The operating room is brightly lit and smells of disinfectant. Lilly Sand stands at her workplace in a blue coat and surgical mask. Today she is practicing how to prepare an operating room in a sterile manner for an operation.
Lilly Sand is training to become a surgical assistant at the clinic in Ludwigshafen. Their tasks include helping with operations and caring for medical instruments. After an internship, it was clear to her that she wanted to work in the operating room. Also because the job is considered safe in the age of artificial intelligence. "Safety plays a role for everyone. Especially for us young people," she says.
Benny Neukamm, head of training at the Ludwigshafen Clinic, is also observing this development. Nursing staff for various clinics are trained there. While the number of applications fell during the Corona period, he has now noticed that training is becoming significantly more attractive again.
This year the school had a record number of applicants: around 4,200 applications were received for every 200 available places. “We have noticed for the last two years that applications to us have been steadily increasing,” says Neumann. “We now have waiting lists for training positions again.”
The clinic in Ludwigshafen is not an isolated case. This is shown by nationwide figures. The number of training courses has been increasing for several years, especially in nursing: according to the Federal Statistical Office, around 64,300 people started nursing training in 2025, eight percent more than in the previous year.
Many training occupations in the healthcare sector are bucking the general trend: "Overall, dual vocational training has declined in recent years. The economic crisis is having an impact here. But not in the healthcare professions," explains Hubert Ertl, research director at the Federal Institute for Vocational Training in Bonn.
However, he doesn't want to talk about a boom in applicants in the healthcare sector: "Not all the numbers are going in the same direction. But in some of the important and large areas we have significantly increasing numbers." For example in nursing or training to become medical assistants.
In his opinion, there are several reasons why training numbers in the healthcare sector are developing comparatively positively. These include the abolition of school fees in many health professions and the good chances of being taken on by the company after training.
“A takeover often means immediate entry with permanent employment. And that is very attractive compared to other areas,” says Ertl. Especially in times of crisis, this is often a reason for young people to choose such training.
Patrycja Biundo herself completed training in the health sector. She worked in the operating room for ten years, and today she is a course leader for training in surgical technical assistance (OTA) in Ludwigshafen.
When working with her trainees, she senses a change in image: the healthcare professions have become more popular and more present. In her opinion, videos on social media also contributed to this. “Through education, through social media, these professions are simply more present,” says Biundo. In particular, the previously less well-known and still young training professions such as surgical technical assistance would have received more attention among young people.
At the same time, further training opportunities have become more attractive, such as studying in the health sector, often after training.
Most teachers studied and received further training parallel to their work. On the one hand, an attractive career prospect, but on the other hand, a high hurdle to even get into the teaching profession. This is also felt by the nursing school at the clinic in Ludwigshafen, where around 40 teachers train in medical professions. “Finding teaching staff for these schools is really difficult,” says headmaster Benny Neukamm.
It's a long road, but one that's too arduous for many people. Therefore, the positive development could soon be over. "If we don't manage to increase demand, then the increasing trend that we have in training numbers will not be able to continue," says Hubert Ertl from the Federal Institute for Vocational Training.
Even if the number of trainees increases, this will probably not be able to completely offset the shortage of skilled workers in the healthcare system. “We are an aging society. That’s why demand will remain high in the long term,” says Ertl.
In the operating theater in Ludwigshafen, trainee Lilly Sand still has two years of training ahead of her. Afterwards she would like to continue working in her profession. She said she knew as a child that she wanted to go into the medical field. She says she found her dream job.
