The care and support of cancer patients and their relatives is a particular challenge for professional nurses. More and more people are becoming ill and dying from cancer. On the other hand, medicine is constantly developing, improving treatment possibilities and changing side effects. Added to this are the economic, demographic and family changes in hospitals, as well as the shift of treatment from the inpatient to the outpatient area.

The field of nursing is changing almost daily. In order to be able to accompany cancer patients and their carers professionally and individually through the different phases of the disease, nurses need to have a special professional qualification.

The specialised further training in oncology has been designed in such a way that it can be combined, under certain conditions, with a bachelor's course at the Steinbeis University in Berlin, Transfer Institute in Essen.

Objectives of continuing education:

The advanced specialised training enables professional nurses to specialise in the field of oncology. In this advanced training course, participants not only acquire specialised and demanding practical skills, but also considerably expand their communicative, social and pedagogical skills.

The specialised continuing education course is designed to enable participants to:

• to perceive the diverse, complex and individual needs of people suffering from cancer,
• professionally accompany patients and their relatives in the process of adapting to the disease,
• contribute as a competent member of a multi-professional team,
• to apply scientifically based knowledge in nursing,
• to pass on newly acquired knowledge in order to ensure the quality of nursing care in the long term.

Structure of dual training:

The curriculum is based on the recommendations of the German Hospital Federation from September 2015 (amended in September 2018).

The specialist dual training lasts two years and comprises a total of 720 theoretical hours and at least 1800 practical hours.

Admission requirements:

Full professional training as:

Nursing staff and nurse
Health and paediatric nurse
geriatric nurse

Structure of the practical dual training:

Practical continuing education takes place in different clinical areas and, if possible, in the clinic where the participants are employed. It can be planned by the participants and the department heads themselves. This means that we do not specify a rotation plan, but expect participants - within two years - to provide evidence of compulsory and optional hours.

Mandatory

A minimum of 1800 hours, distributed as follows :

600 hours in a conservative internal medicine department.
300 hours in a surgical department
300 hours in a radiology department, including a radiology outpatient clinic

Optional:

400 hours, which must be spread over at least two or more of the following departments :

Hospice, Urology, Gynaecology/Breast Centre, Neurology, Maxillofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, Bone Graft Unit, Oncology Outpatient Clinic or in a rehabilitation clinic.
Optional

at least 200 hours in hospitals and practices, rehabilitation facilities or similar offering alternative healing methods to people suffering from oncological diseases.