Shortage of Skilled Workers: The Imported Nurse

Ja, I’m a bit homesick,” says Thi Thu Thao Nguyen. The young Vietnamese woman, on the other hand, helps with daily phone calls to her parents – as long as the time difference of five hours and her work schedule allow it. Because Nguyen has been working as a nurse in the Offenbach Sana Clinic in the ward for kidney patients since February, as she reports in almost perfect German. She came here because the director of her university, after a visit to Germany, talked about other graduates of his university who were now working there. “My parents supported me and said that Germany has a well-developed healthcare system and a good quality of life and offers me good opportunities,” reports the twenty-four-year-old, who has a bachelor’s degree in health and nursing.

Tilman Frank’s Frankfurt-based company Talent-Orange paved the way for her to Germany and a job at the Offenbach Clinic. The doctor, who switched to the management consultancy McKinsey during his specialist training, had set up his own business, initially for managers and for a good ten years now for employees in clinics and care facilities. His company Talent-Orange is now based in Frankfurt’s Westhafen and operates a campus for nursing staff in Neu-Isenburg.