Ms. Borgwedel, you have been Director of Nursing at CIMH since early 2023. Is it your dream job?

My dream was always to become a nurse. I have grown into my role of Director of Nursing and I really like it. I value the many opportunities I have to shape working conditions together with my colleagues and to develop new concepts that focus on both employees and patients. I like working with my great team and other professional groups and departments. I'm curious to work on transferring scientific findings into our day-to-day practice and I love implementing ideas, even if they don't initially seem feasible. I believe you can only make progress if you're willing to fail.

What do you think is particularly important in your new role?

Having ideas. Ideas that both patients and employees benefit from. The opinions of my colleagues also play a critical role. We have around 400 employees in nursing. I am open to any suggestions they have and I take them into account if I can. Handling diversity is also a daily challenge for me.

What does diversity mean in your area of work? 

Psychiatric nursing needs diversity. Ultimately the relationship between the patient and their nurse is a critical part of the healing process. It's about finding a way to get through to every patient, and for that we need a corresponding range of contact people.

What is special about nursing at CIMH?

We're multi-colored, we're diverse, we're tolerant, we're "absolutely us"! And because that's the way things are there's a great amount of team spirit. This diversity inspires many colleagues and helps them to mature as individuals. If you ask psychiatric nurses, you often hear that they themselves really benefit from this work. I can only confirm that.

The working conditions in psychiatric nursing are in flux. How are you responding to that?

Psychiatric nursing is exposed to significant changes at many different levels. The increased introduction of partial inpatient and outpatient care concepts and digitization can be mentioned here as particular examples. We face these changes by actively bringing our expertise and experience into our nursing. We work on diverse projects, for example on the Hospital Future Act, and make our contribution to the Agile Coaches change projects. We develop or revise concepts that provide answers to the change, such as ward-equivalent treatment and the track concept. We act as professionals and as equals and are now sought-after mentors and co-creators across various areas. This is closely linked to the fact that nursing at CIMH doesn't just react to changes, but instead develops in a proactive way.

Can you please explain that a little more.

For example we have embarked upon new paths in further training. The management training program "Professional Leadership in Nursing" has been introduced. Measures like this lead to greater levels of skill, responsibility, and commitment in the team. Overall, the nursing sector has developed significance that does justice to its importance. We have also aligned ourselves with general nursing training. The change you mention, though, also includes the change in needs of employees in terms of working hours.

You're talking about a balance between professional and private life?

Exactly. It's important to me to address the needs of my employees, which is why we do everything to find solutions that contribute to a balance between a person's professional life and their private life. Specifically, this means that we look at options for individual working hours where needed.

To reduce the strain on our colleagues, we have also launched the KNAPP (Emergency Nursing Staff Shortage Concept). The nurses in the KNAPP team compensate for acute staff shortages. During the pandemic the KNAPP rules really helped us.

Are staff shortages a problem in psychiatric nursing at CIMH?

It would be overconfident of me to say that we're not affected by staff shortages. Colleagues with a great deal of training have retired. We need to strive to ensure that this practical knowledge is not lost. Further training plays an important role in this. We are now specifically asked about further training opportunities during interviews – that makes for an attractive employer too.

How do you convince people who aren't sure whether a job in psychiatric nursing is right for them?

Anyone who wants to work very closely with other people, who wants to and who can have a relationship with the patient that is only for a fixed period of time, who is interested in people in entirely different life situations, who is tolerant, reflective, team-minded, and willing to learn can find a fulfilling job in psychiatric nursing. For me personally, psychiatric nursing is a hugely valuable job because it really is varied and I have matured as a person.

About Doris Borgwedel

Doris Borgwedel has been working in nursing since 1979. After studying as a nurse at a vocational school in the GDR for 14 years, she started working in somatic nursing. In 1993 she switched to psychiatric nursing and helped to build the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Clinic in Neubrandenburg. In 2007 she moved from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Hesse for family reasons. She has been working at CIMH ever since. She has held different nursing management roles and helped to build case management, among other things. In 2016 she took on the role of Deputy Director of Nursing alongside Claus Staudter. She has been Director of Nursing since 2023.