Updates committees and office

Board

On the Board of Directors, we are reviewing our tasks in order to optimize cooperation and support each other even better. Our aim is to make the association's work more collaborative and efficient. This will create more space for current projects and, of course, for the concerns of VfP members.

Academic professional societies (AFGs)

AFG Oncology Nursing: New co-presidency and award for the best research project at the Oncology Nursing Congress

Franziska Geese and Franziska Schmidt have been co-presidents of AFG Oncology Care since January 2025, succeeding Marika Bana, Antje Koller and Matthias Hellberg-Naegele.

At 27. Oncology Nursing Congress in Bern (March 27, 2025), the best research project 2022-2024 in the field of oncology nursing will be awarded a prize. AFG Oncology Nursing is a member of the organizing committee.

AFG psychiatric nursing: AFG & npfp meeting review and new members

In November 2024, representatives of the AFG Psychiatric Nursing and the Network for Nursing Development in Psychiatry (npfp) met to promote the exchange between nursing development and AFG. The focus was on the presentation of the "Psychiatry without coercion" charter, which received broad support and whose dissemination is to be promoted in 2025. In addition, recommendations on "Intensive care for adults undergoing psychiatric treatment" (drawn up in 20219 by the working group of this AFG) were presented and the status of implementation reflected on in small groups.

Welcome to AFG psychiatric care:

Sonja Santi,

Nurse FH Bsc Nursing, cand. Msc Nursing

Benjamin Lory,​

Nursing expert APN, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner,

Patric Pelican,

MSc

AFG Spitex Care: Understanding and applying interRAI IADL scales

The IADL scales of interRAI were analyzed by a working group of the Academic Association of Spitex Care and practical recommendations for use in Spitex were developed. These support needs assessors in evaluating independence in everyday life.

The recommendations are published in the Online Spitexmagazin:

• German
• French

Commissions

Health Policy Committee: Review and outlook

At the end of 2024, the Health Policy Committee evaluated and reflected on its work. A valuable contribution for the VfP was the Development paper with a summary of current scientific knowledge on the topic of nursing staff ratios and nursing staff calculation, which was published as part of the VFP/APSI and presented to all presidents of the scientific societies and the Executive Board. It serves as the basis for the staffing project of VfP, SNL and SBK and was presented to the FOPH and the FOPH care platform with a very good response.

Webinars were held from 2022 to 2024 and enjoyed great popularity, such as the webinar on July 31, 2024 on the consultation of the new Federal Act on Working Conditions in Care (BGAP).

Publications such as Gattinger, H., Bernet, M., Zumstein-Shaha, M., & Schlüer, A.-B. (2023) in NOVAcura shed light on how nursing science findings can be used to implement the nursing initiative.

It was suggested that the mapping of APNs in Switzerland should be reviewed on the basis of scientific and non-scientific literature. Two research internships were carried out in this group by a Master's student from the University of Basel.

In view of changing requirements, the Board of Directors will now reconsider the Commission's mandate and adjust the objectives accordingly.

Office

This month was all about onboarding to the new system landscape. As part of this, you have received an invitation to log in to the new member area. If you cannot find the invitation email, please check your spam folder or contact our office directly. Membership invoices will be sent out in March.

We look forward to taking the next steps together and sense a great deal of openness and curiosity. If you have any questions or feedback, please write to us at info@vfp-apsi.ch.

We find ourselves in the new team and are grateful for the open exchange that helps us to optimize our collaboration.

Calls and announcements

Implementation of care initiative 1st stage

A lot is going on with the implementation of the first stage of the care initiative. Consolidated information on the status of implementation can be found here GDK: Implementation of constitutional article on nursing care

Care Manifest

The world's first manifesto for good care and support written by care workers has just been published. The Care Manifesto outlines a vision for the reorganization of long-term care in Switzerland. It aims to improve the quality of care as well as the living conditions of people with care needs and the working conditions of care workers. The Care Manifesto is the result of a comprehensive process of participatory research and collaborative development work. However, its publication is not the end of this work, but rather marks just the beginning: the co-authors and editors want to use the manifesto's message to initiate a public debate, promote a broad exchange of views and encourage active action. 

As with many progressive reform proposals (minimum wage, care initiative, etc.), the concrete implementation is always the most difficult part. We want to involve employees, care home residents, trade unions, civil society, researchers and political actors to promote change towards better long-term care. For this to succeed, we need your support:  Please share the Care Manifesto in your networks so that it reaches as wide an audience as possible.

Survey on the role of advanced practice nurses (APNs) in psychiatric care

The Bern University of Applied Sciences is conducting a survey on the role of advanced practice nurses (APNs) in psychiatric care in Switzerland. The aim is to find out more about fields of activity, challenges and support needs in order to promote the further development of the role. Further information.

Participation requirements:

• Master of Science in Nursing or current Master's degree program
• Work as an APN in psychiatric nursing in Switzerland

 To the survey (approx. 20 min., available in dt/fr/en)

Events