Interview with BTU Alumnus Matthias Kernig (Pflegewissenschaft, Berufspädagogik im Gesundheitswesen)

Matthias Kernig has an education as a state-approved curative education nurse and a registered health and nursing nurse, as well as a bachelor's degree in nursing science and a master's degree in professional pedagogy in health care. He has worked as a lecturer and instructor. Currently, he is an academic staff member for the Department of Nursing Science and Clinical Nursing at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg.

Hello Matthias, what fascinates you about the nursing profession and nursing science, and how did you decide to study at the BTU?
I "got into" the nursing profession through my civilian service. After graduating from high school, I did 12 months of community service at a workshop for the disabled, and that's how I discovered the profession. I have always been fascinated by the variety of people and their fates that you get to know. Hardly any day is like the other. In addition, the nursing profession is associated with a variety of demanding activities, which make the working days really varied. That's why, following my civilian service, I started training to become a curative education nurse in Potsdam. However, when I finished my vocational training, I wanted to deepen my knowledge of nursing science and nursing theories. So I knew - I would like to study. My mother-in-law made me aware of the then still very new course of studies at the BTU. There was an article in the Lausitzer Rundschau, she sent it to me and I applied.

You've been working at the BTU since 2019. What are your tasks in the department? How can one imagine your everyday work?
When I started working here, I was primarily involved in processing data sets that had already been recorded. This mainly involved the processing and evaluation of qualitative interviews. The main focus was on the acceptance of digitalization and eHealth solutions by the corresponding users. In addition, I supported my colleagues in writing reports and publications. In addition, I was allowed to participate in some lectures. Since 2021 I am firmly anchored in the project for the development of a standard care offer for age-friendly living space adaptation, which runs until October 2022. Here, the focus is on the tasks of the project work, i.e. primarily the coordination and exchange with the respective project parties. At the moment we are busy with the recording and evaluation of documentation forms, which we have created. I find it very exciting to find out how these forms, which we created theoretically, hold up in practice and what the feedback of the users is like. So, at the moment, my daily work mainly takes place at the PC and on the phone.

To whom would you recommend the study of nursing science, what interests and competencies should prospective students bring with them?
In principle, anyone who aspires to training or further education in the field of nursing. Above all, you should be interested in the professionalization of the profession. Nursing science is about influencing professional practice. Accordingly, one should be very interested in working with concepts and theories as well as their transfer into professional practice. Since German-language literature is not widely available in certain subject areas, you should also be willing to deal with English-language information. The course of study at the BTU covers a very wide range of topics. Thus, it is also interesting for nursing professionals who already have an education and would like to further educate themselves accordingly, since corresponding specializations in practice often require a suitable qualification. The study program offers a very good basis for this. Those who do not yet have any professional training can complete both the degree as a nursing specialist and the Bachelor of Science degree in parallel in 4 years. This saves you a lot of time if you were thinking about studying after your vocational training anyway.

You have been able to gather a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge with your training and studies. What do you see as the advantage of combining the two?
Theories simply become more tangible. I was already confronted with many of them during my initial training, but there I saw them more as a necessary evil. But to understand in a practical way why those theories exist and from what origins they have arisen is an extreme added value for one's own understanding of one's role. Unfortunately, I often had the experience in nursing that the motto in practice was "we've always done it that way". But I never really wanted to accept that. It is correspondingly exciting to look beyond one's own horizons and the associated incentive not to design processes "as always", but to look for theoretical alternatives and then to try them out in practice. On the other hand, the view from practice to theory also brings advantages. Theoretical concepts are sometimes incredibly exciting, but they can also come across as very distant from practice, since they are very much oriented towards an ideal image. Being aware of both of these things has a lot of added value for me.

On the one hand, there was a lot of coverage in the pandemic about the ever-increasing relevance of nursing, but on the other hand, there was also a lot of coverage about the sometimes precarious circumstances. What would you say to people who still have doubts about studying in this field?
Society and the job market are in a constant state of flux, not least due to digitalization. You could see that everywhere during the pandemic. I think that more and more roles are emerging for nursing professionals with corresponding areas of competence that require a degree. This is particularly evident in international comparisons. We are still lagging behind, but I firmly believe that we will catch up. To do this, we need primarily trained nurses to drive this professionalization forward and to structure and organize the process. The role of patients is also constantly changing. Therefore, nursing as a profession must be prepared for this. A course of study is the cornerstone for this. It is not only about learning and promoting profession-specific skills, but also about general things that can be relevant for practice. For example, correct research and preparation of information in order to be able to pass it on and implement it in a comprehensible way. All of this comes with a degree. In addition, in my opinion, the precarious situation in nursing or in the health care sector in general could be eased considerably by the additional employment of trained nursing staff. In addition, the number of attractive (master's) degree programs specifically for the field of nursing is increasing. Therefore, with a view to the future, studies for nursing specialists will become increasingly attractive and in demand.