Hey Zukunft Pflege

«Hey Zukunft Pflege» (Hey Future Nursing) is a project within the nursing initiative. It implements measures in a short term to increase the attractiveness of the BSc nursing programme and targeted communication strategies for programme.

Factsheet

Situation

In November 2021, the nursing initiative was adopted with 61% of the votes in favour. The population thus endorsed greater recognition and funding for nursing as an essential component of health care by the federal government and the cantons. To meet the growing demand for nursing professionals, the number of nursing students must be increased, as Switzerland currently only trains about half of the required number of nurses at universities of applied sciences and higher vocational schools. Swissuniversities is supporting these efforts with project-related funding, while the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) is investing equal additional resources of its own. In the project «Hey Zukunft Pflege», concrete measures are being implemented to improve the bachelor's degree programme in nursing. These include updating case studies, introducing blended learning for location-independent teaching in Bern and Basel, and introducing the first virtual reality units. A marketing campaign under the motto «Hey Zukunft» (Hey Future) presents the advantages of studying at the university of applied sciences. Trial days are also being offered for the first time, where prospective students can experience the study program directly.

Course of action

In co-creation with practitioners, service users (patients and relatives) and students, practical case studies are developed. These are based on real or future challenges in healthcare, such as common illnesses, family orientation, integrated care, interprofessionalism and diversity. The case studies are linked to the students' experiences, since existing examples often do not take their knowledge and reality into account, thus losing the learning effect. These curricular adjustments are being implemented together with the Competence Centre for Participation of the Department of Health. The «Hey Zukunft» campaign is aimed specifically at prospective students and guides them to our website (bfh.ch/pflege) via various advertising formats. The landing page highlights the advantages of studying at the university of applied sciences, summarises the most important information and contains short video testimonials from protagonists. Prospective students can register for information events or visit the degree programme page (bfh.ch/bsc-pflege). Trial days have been set up especially for the campaign. Interested persons can register online and attend the programme as guest students for a day, accompanied by research associates and students.

This project contributes to the following SDGs

  • 3: Good health and well-being