Chemnitz_zieht_an_Magazin_2024_englisch

Anyone who has ever spent some time
with Maria Süß and Heike Palm at Klinikum
Chemnitz gGmbH (Chemnitz Hospital) will
never get rid of the feeling that both levels
are brought together here. The team of two
looks after the international specialists at
the hospital. They know how to handle external
factors and internal attitudes to create
harmony. Which one of them is the pragmatic,
conscientious side for the external factors
becomes clear at the latest when Maria
Süß pulls out a folder: “All our international
skilled workers get one of these from me,”
she explains. “Experience has shown that
piles and piles of documents accumulate
during the integration process. It helps us
keep track of everything.” Heike Palm sees
people first and foremost, as she demonstrates
by calling them colleagues right from
the start. They’re not “the newbies” or “the
others”. “No, they’re people like you and me.
They all have their own history, their hopes,
and they often have their own baggage to
carry, too,” she says. It’s absolutely clear that
respect, tolerance and attentiveness are important
to her – not only between local and
international professionals, but also on the
part of the patients. “In Saxony, we still have
some catching up to do here. The process
of internationalisation in the field of nursing
professionals has been firmly embedded
in everyday working life in the old federal
states for a long time. It’s only just begun
here. We want to reach out to local people
and make it clear that it doesn’t matter
whether a carer is called Arndt or Mohammed.
Qualifications and expertise are what
count.” As a rule, international colleagues
have a lot to contribute, as almost all nursing
staff from the EU and other countries do
not complete an apprenticeship, but rather
a bachelor’s degree programme with an integrated
practical component. Only Germany
takes a different approach: anyone who
wants to become a carer here completes a
three-year
training
course.
However,
specialised
knowledge alone is not enough to create
acceptance. Communication plays a particularly
important role: “Developing German
language skills is extremely important – and
not just for dealing with patients. You can’t
make a home here with English alone,” says
Heike Palm, firmly convinced. This is where
the hospital’s one-year “adaptation courses”,
which were launched in 2022, come into
play. “They are held in German. The participants
discuss not only understanding what
is being said, but also knowing what is meant.”
A sound and wide-ranging understanding
of the language is important to prevent
misunderstandings in everyday working life
and beyond. Only after the adaptation year,
during which the participants also learn a lot
about the system, do they spend six months
familiarising themselves with a defined area
of work. This gives them a sense of security.
Of around 2,500 nursing staff in the hospital
network, a total of 111 have their roots in
other countries. There are even international
specialists in the “stand-in pool”, which
consists of 80 employees. This is remarkable,
as these employees “have to be even
quicker on the uptake,” explains Heike Palm.
“They have to constantly reorient themselves
at different workstations and get to grips
with their tasks as quickly as possible.” This
is a challenge even for local native speakers.
All things
QUALIFICATIONS AND
EXPERTISE ARE WHAT COUNT
considered,
you have to
take your
hat off to
all the international specialists who have
found their feet here. “The path in Germany
is extremely difficult, and we should
do everything we can to make sure these
colleagues stay with us. The social environment
is crucial here. Everyday racism
on the way to work, being stopped by the
police more frequently because they have
a different skin colour or bouncers refusing
them entry to the club doesn’t help. Sadly,
this has all happened before,” says Maria
Süß, who is responsible for a special tool as
part of the culture of welcome at Klinikum
Chemnitz – a weekly newsletter. “I regularly
send out tips on everyday life in Germany,
what traditions we have, what holidays we
celebrate and what makes us tick.” From
2024, a regulars’ table is also planned as an
opportunity for international specialists and
other staff members to exchange ideas. “We
want to know what we still need to work on in
terms of integration so that we can use this
knowledge to keep on improving.”
HEIKE PALM
MARIA SÜß
WEITERE INFOS:
Klinikum Chemnitz gGmbH
chemnitz.jobs/klinikum
We have employed people of the
following nationalities:
40 nations
Applications in German to:
m.suess@skc.de
40
49