Nursing expertise belongs in hospital management!
28.07.2025 16:47
At a large municipal hospital in Brandenburg, the nursing management position was recently eliminated without replacement. This development is exemplary of a nationwide trend: nursing leadership structures at the highest levels are being dismantled – despite the extensive scientific evidence that supports a management level rooted in nursing expertise.
The German Professional Association for Nursing Professions (DBfK) strongly criticizes this trend: "Nursing perspectives must be incorporated into strategic management structures and committees," says DBfK President Vera Lux. The participation of the largest professional group in the healthcare system in key decisions is not an option, but a prerequisite for quality, safety, and sustainable development.
"The case in Brandenburg is more than an isolated decision—it symbolizes the structural exclusion of professional nursing in central management functions," explains Lux. "Such decisions contradict all the principles of modern hospital management. Those who forego nursing expertise and professional nursing leadership weaken care and leave untapped potential that is urgently needed for the healthcare system."
According to the German Federation of Nursing and Healthcare Professionals (DBfK), nursing leadership is a central component of modern organizational management. Its structural integration at the management and board levels is essential for realistically assessing care situations, managing personnel strategies, and ensuring long-term quality.
“The DBfK calls on hospital operators, supervisory bodies and politicians to permanently enshrine nursing management on an equal footing with medical and commercial management – legally, organizationally and financially,” explains Lux.
The German Federation of Nurses (DBfK) has already emphasized the importance of nursing leadership in its statements on hospital legislation in recent years, at events, and in professional papers such as the current position paper "Good Leadership in Nursing is Essential." The fact that such structures are nevertheless being dismantled in many places demonstrates, according to the DBfK, the urgent need for political action.