A Day in the life of a Filipino Nurse in Germany

I wake up. It's 5:30.

I get dressed and prepare to walk my normal 15-minute walk to the hospital.

I arrive around 5:45, get into the locker room, change into the hospital's blue scrub shirt and white pants, put on my shoes, and go up using the elevators to my station.

I place my bag on our cabinet, and take 1 paper with the list of all our patients' names, diagnosis, food cost, and special infos.

I grab a cup of coffee, and sit down on one of our spinnable chairs, and prepare for the endorsement.

''Do you know patient A ?'' my colleague asks me. 

'Yes, I had pm shift yesterday'

''Well, there's nothing new with him, he has to have an MRT today, his Drainage is still to be hanged 10cm üNWH, Bloodtests are prepared, you can give him 1 L of additional infusion today,  he still has his antibiotics, he had fever but we are supposed to wait till it goes down by itself. it can be something central, the doctor said.''

''how about patient B?''

''No, she's new. I dont know her yet. ''

''Patient B is an 89 yo man who fell down the stairs yesterday in his house. he has a history of  heart disease that's why he was taking Marcumar, an anticoagulant. He also has renal failure, beginning alzheimers, has no immediate relatives, lives alone, a careworker drops by him once a day,

because of the fall, he now has subdural hematomas on both sides of the brain and last night, we did a bedside trepanation that discharged 50 ml of old blood., he is awake and responsive, but he is only oriented to person, vital signs are stable, CT scan is scheduled for 10 am.''

and it goes on until I receive all my planned endorsements,

when the night shift goes,

I begin my round.

Take the temperature, control the pupils, check the monitor alarms, check the orientation of the patients ( important in the nuerosurgical dept), give oxygen if needed, suction tracheal canulas if needed, check blood sugars, hang the first NGT systems, do the first reposittioning of patients, order tranports to CT/ ORs / MRTs, write 1st documentation, prepare for the doctor's visits.

8.30- carry out doctors orders, and give the patients their breakfast if they cannot eat alone.

9:00-9:30 have our breakfast / breaktime in the nurses' room

9:30- wash the patients, reposition, give medications, send patients for examinations, prepare blood tests, assist doctor in lumbar puncture, or head trepanation

12- do the last round, temperature, pupils, vital signs, suctions, documentation, last repositioning, give i.v. antobiotics

1:00- empty drainages, Catheters for balancing, write vital signs on monitoring sheet

2:00 endorsement to pm shift.

then I get to go down to the lockers again, change, and walk my 15 minute walk back home :)

sounds simple, but you have to do this to all patients. on a normal shift, I get 6-8 intensive cases patients, or 16 normal and mobile patients.

Some Unwanted Worries as a Nurse in Germany

I was thinking back today, on the days last year when I first started processing my papers and application as a nurse here in germany..

I definitely had a lot of angst and worries and most often than not, I bothered myself with all kinds of horrors that could arise.

Looking back, I can now laugh and say : those troubles were uncalled-for.

There are probably a bunch of nurses out there right now who want to work as nurses here in germany but do not know where to start, or also a lot of those who are already on the right tracts, but are scared of all the challenges that lay ahead.

That's why I decided to post something about some of my worries before and how they turned out to be.


Unwanted Worry # 1:

The recognition:

I was really worried that I had to take an exam again about Nursing, and that in German! I told myself, 'I mean if they are to give me recognition as a nurse here, then they have to test my knowledge in Nursing first!'

I thought I had to take some test like NCLEX or NLE and this time it would not be in english! I was so scared because I spent almost a year in germany just studying german and never having to review or work with something that has to do with nursing. My knowledge was gone! or hidden deep behind the recesses of my mind!

In reality, this was never so. I never had to worry about this because nobody ever asked me to take a nursing test while working here! :)so silly of me.

After submitting my requirements, I got the document that entitles me to work as a registered nurse here in germany, and voila! I applied in a hospital and got an interview schedule!


Unwanted Worry #2: The Job Interview

I was so worried that they would grill me on nursing questions about drugs and what-to-do scenarios. I was worried that I would be so slow in explaining because I had to do it in german , that my interviewer would be annoyed and deny my the job.

In reality, my interview took about 25 minutes, most of  the talking of which were done by the interviewer. I only had to answer the questions directly asked of me.

Some of questions were:

In what Department have you had most experience with? ( I answered OB / Gynecology)
What were the things that you did in the hospitals in the Philippines as a nurse. (preparing meds, VS, Injections, carrying out Doctors' Orders, health campaigns, cpr, etc. )

in what department would you like to work. ( I answered Frauenabteilung / OB )

but instead I landed in Nuero-surgery because they most needed people there.

The rest of the time, my interviewer explained the roles of the nurses here, the different departments, the set-up, resources in times of need, and she also took me for a tour of the station right away!

So no worries. as long as you remain true and friendly, the job interview is not so bad!


Unwanted worry # 3: Documentation in German will be terrible!!

I was so worried as first that I will not be able to do my charts and documentation properly because I have to do them in german. The medical terms will be in german and I have to describe tha patients' conditions in german.

In reality: It was at first hard and confusing, but I took the habit of writing down my fellow nurses' documentations in a small notebook, irregardless of the situations during my Einarbeitung or my orientation weeks. I categorized them into: Assessment sentences that I can later use, Problems, Drainages, Systems, Medications, etc.

This notebook helped me during the first weeks of my alone-time work already. After a while, I got used to them, and as time went by, I was able to make up my own sentences and produce a good piece of documentation that is ( in my opinion) sometimes better than that of my colleagues :)

Most of the terms have their latin equivalents and I am allowed to use them, and in my hospital, they are not doing a cephalo-caudal assessment but instead, you are supposed to write 1-3 sentences on the patient (anything that pertains to the present condition).

Example of my documentation in 1 shift:

(translated in English)

all documentation are patient based.

6:00- patient is awake and responsive, is oriented to time,place,person and situtation, the pupils are equally round and reactive to light and accommodation, Temp=38.8 C., Doctor on Duty informed, received Perfalgan 1g i.v. , can move all extremities well without any signs of deficits, vital signs are stable.
12:00- patient was sent to CT for shunt examination, is now back on the station, Vigilance unaltered, does not have fever, EVD (extra-ventricular drainage) is 10cm above Nasenwürzelhöhe (nose bridge level) , drains circa 10 ml clear cerebrospinal fluid, received medications as planned, vital signs stable.



so no worries! I learned to trust my instincts, i always asked ( I still do now, even after a year), and always remained friendly.