Working in Germany

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Hi~ I am planning on getting a nursing diploma from Mercy in NC in the next year. Currently I work as a doula. My husband is from the UK and I plan on getting a EU passport for my children and myself before leaving for Germany to live for several years. My husband speaks/reads/understans some German and my children are attending a German Immersion School Program. By the time we move to Germany, they will speak fluently. I am planning on learning German but I am not sure how well I will speak/understand it when we move over there. I gave birth to my children at home and would love to work with a midwife in Germany doing home births. So, with this information, what are the requirements for working in Germany if you have a US nursing diploma? I plan on taking the test to get my RN. Does anyone know? I will at least have the EU passport and know a little German so that must be a plus. Cheers Kelly;)

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the International forum

Suggest a quick search in this forum as we have a few threads on working in Germany.

There isn't anything as a EU passport so presume your and your children will be applying for a UK husband (presuming you qualify for a UK passport) http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Passports/WhoiseligibleforaBritishpassport/DG_174145

Expect you will need to be fluent in German

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Specializes in intensive care, recovery, anesthetics.

Midwifery is strictly regulated in Germany and you have to be a midwife to assist with births, also your german need to be pretty fluent to be able to get your education evaluated and to pass the requirements and work.

Where are you planning to move?

5cats

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Specializes in Emergency, Pre-Op, PACU, OR.

my friend is a German nurse, I can ask her some specific questions if you'd like. Are you applying for an English passport? Where in Germany do you plan to go?

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We plan to move to Germany in five years. We wanted to go earlier but due to the economy (there and here) we decided to wait it out. What I meant was that my husband has a UK passport which means that it a EU passport. The USA does not qualify for that. I hope to learn German in the next couple of years along with my children. I was hoping that as a RN, I could work helping a Midwife there in Germany. Do they not have RN's to help them in the care of mothers giving birth? We have nurses helping Midwives and Doctors here. Two midwives is a bit of an overkill. I heard from someone that is a native and someone else that lived there that in the big cities there are US hospitals and sections of town. Especially near the bases. I guess if I needed to, I could work for them but I would prefer to work with a homebirth midwife. One1, it would be great if you could ask your friends about the midwifes in Germany, if they have RN's that work for them? What I would need to do in order to work for them.... Stuff like that.

Thanks for moving me to the international threads. I just got on the site yesterday and looked around but did not find much and the ones I did find relating to this subject were years ago. Things are constantly changing.

Cheers, Kelly

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Specializes in Emergency, Pre-Op, PACU, OR.

Kelly, I will send my friend an e-mail today, I will let you know what she says. Cities that have US military posts are the ones that also have US health facilities, usually on post, but more and more posts are being shut down these days, as the military focus shifts away from Europe.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

There still is no EU passport yet. Getting a UK one just makes it easier working in other EU countries.

If Germany is like the UK then midwives are a specialist on their own and midwives have more autonomy than in the US. It is normal in the UK for midwives to do the delivery and a doctor only gets involved if there is a problem.

Some links to give you an idea for the UK

Midwife in the UK, NMC

Royal College of midwives UK

I did a google search on Midwifery Germany and a few other good websites came up so you may want to consider looking at them

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Thanks !!!!!

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Specializes in Emergency, Pre-Op, PACU, OR.

Silverdragon102 sounds right. I got an e-mail back from my friend. Midwives in Germany seem to undergo a very specific, 3-year program that is comparable to a trade school program over here (though I am unsure if it would translate to a Bachelor or an Associate's). Midwife students' programs seem similar to a nursing program - theory, practical exercises, clinicals, exams, and end with a written, practical, and oral exam that will, if passed, qualify them to apply for the midwife license.

It seems that midwives in Germany do work more on their own, alone. They can deliver home births with only a doctor stopping by to confirm that patients are doing fine. If they work in hospitals, they work with doctors and nurses, though it seems that they work with the hospital staff rather than their own "nurse partner." If you want to work with midwives, you might want to consider working on the delivery floor of a hospital as a nurse, or you might want to consider getting the midwife license.

I am unsure how a U.S. RN license transfers. You could get in contact with an evaluating agency. These are agencies that translate and evaluate foreign degrees and licenses into a local equivalent. I know ECE.org is an American evaluation agency, and they might be able to help you or refer you to a German agency.

Definitely work on your German if you plan to work in a German health care setting, or consider applying on a facility on a US military post.

Good luck, I hope that helped a bit, keep us updated!

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Thanks so much everyone. I will keep researching it. Cheers, Kelly

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