Nicole Kreuzberger has been working in the neurosurgical intensive care unit at the Christian Doppler Clinic for 7 years. Since February 2022, she has also been a senior lecturer at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. However, she has not only known the UAS for a short time: the Bachelor's degree programme "Nursing" and an internship as part of her Master's degree programme were on her career path.
Nicole Kreuzberger completed her Bachelor's degree in Nursing in 2013 and was thus in the second graduating class ever. So she has known the degree programme almost since zero hour. Following her Bachelor's degree, Nicole Kreuzberger completed a Master's degree in "Health & Nursing Science" with a focus on pedagogy at MedUni Graz. This laid the foundation for higher teaching. With a rucksack full of knowledge, Nicole Kreuzberger was initially drawn into practice: namely to the neurosurgical intensive care unit at the Christian Doppler Clinic, where she was recently even able to pass on her experience to interns and colleagues as a practice supervisor.
Balance between theory, science and practice
During her training at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Nicole Kreuzberger particularly appreciated the balance between theory, science and practice. In the theoretical content and compulsory internships, an attempt was made to take the students' own interests into account as much as possible.
"For example, I was allowed to complete an internship in the intensive care unit of the Christian Doppler Clinic, where I have now been working for seven years. Furthermore, a broad variety of health care and nursing is introduced in the three years of study. This includes acute care, long-term care, counselling, nursing science, as well as special areas such as the care of children, care during operations and anaesthesia, and intensive care. It shows you how many doors are open to you with this degree"
From nursing to event management
"At the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, not only is theory and practice taught, but the training also contributes to personal development," says Nicole Kreuzberger, who helped plan and manage a trainee congress in a final project as part of the "Open Windows" in the 6th semester. For this, all "health and nursing" training institutions offered in the province of Salzburg were invited.
"It was quite challenging when you don't know much about event management and have to organise such a congress with guest lectures, workshops, catering and logistical issues, etc. - starting with the question: Where do we even find sponsors for this event?", laughs Nicole Kreuzberger and adds, "After everything worked out great, I remember this project very positively. We have certainly all grown with this task".
Today, as Senior Lecturer at the FH Salzburg, Nicole Kreuzberger mainly takes on tasks in practical teaching thanks to her professional experience. At the same time, she is active in supervising Bachelor's theses. In doing so, she now takes on a connecting role between science and practice herself and accompanies students on their career path.