The diverse research activities at the IfP are fundamentally focused on promoting evidence-based practice in nursing. The aim is to develop and evaluate the knowledge base for everyday nursing practice across all nursing settings.

Current research priorities lie in the following areas:

• Care of people with cognitive impairments and challenging behaviors (e.g., dementia, delirium)
• Care for people with complex care needs (e.g., older adults in hospitals, patients in intensive care units, people with chronic conditions)
• Person-centered care
• Expanded roles of nurses in clinical practice
• Interprofessional collaboration
• Decision-making and decision support
• Evidence syntheses

The curriculum focuses on two degree programs: the dual Bachelor’s program in Clinical Nursing (B.Sc.) and the Master’s program in Advanced Nursing Practice (M.Sc.).

You can find more information about the degree programs hier.

Through our collaboration with the University of Cologne and the University Medical Center, interprofessional partnerships—including those with the Institute for Health Economics and Clinical Epidemiology (IGKE), the Institute for Medical Sociology, Health Services Research, and Rehabilitation Science (IMVR), and the School of Nursing—are an integral part of our work.

The IfP’s goal is to contribute to the further development of teaching, research, and nursing practice, as well as their integration into a dynamic professional field. Teaching through the training of competent, critical, and reflective nursing professionals who are, among other things, capable of independently generating knowledge and implementing it in practical settings. Research by addressing forward-looking questions in the field of clinical nursing research, for example through the development, implementation, and evaluation of complex interventions. And the advancement of nursing practice, in which these components are united in the spirit of person-centered care, through the investigation, mapping, dissemination, and provision of the best available knowledge. Only in this way can complex nursing situations be addressed with evidence-based care in the future.

The Team at the IfP consists primarily of nursing professionals with various academic degrees who work full-time and part-time in different departments. In addition to research and administrative staff, the IfP also employs research assistants and student workers.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sascha Köpke combines in-depth expertise in clinical nursing and health sciences research with extensive experience in teaching. Prof. Köpke, born in Kiel in 1966, first completed his training as a registered nurse. In 2004, he passed his first state examination in health sciences and English language and literature at the University of Hamburg. From 2004 to 2011, Prof. Köpke worked as a research assistant and lecturer in health sciences at the University of Hamburg and at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. In 2007, he earned his doctorate in Hamburg with a dissertation on evidence-based patient information and participatory decision-making in multiple sclerosis. At the Faculty of Medicine in Cologne, he can contribute his experience in establishing and expanding an internationally competitive teaching and research program with a focus on clinical nursing. His experience with interdisciplinary collaborations in teaching, research, and patient care, as well as cross-professional cooperation in nursing, therapy, and medical practice, reflects the high demands of the academicization of the health professions.

The chair and institute are to be broadly networked and firmly established within the University Medical Center Cologne: Collaborations are planned with, among others, the Institute for Health Economics and Clinical Epidemiology (IGKE), the Institute for Medical Sociology, Health Services Research, and Rehabilitation Science (IMVR), and the School of Health and Nursing.

Previously, at the University of Lübeck—where he had headed the Nursing Research Section at the Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology since 2011—Professor Köpke established the dual-track bachelor’s program in nursing as well as the interdisciplinary master’s program in “Health and Care Sciences.”

Prof. Köpke’s research focuses on clinical nursing research, particularly in the field of geriatric nursing, as well as on “shared decision-making” and evidence-based health information. In this work, Prof. Köpke maintains close international networks. His methodological interests lie specifically in the development and evaluation of complex interventions, as well as in evidence synthesis within the context of systematic reviews.
Prof. Köpke is a Fellow and Board Member of the European Academy of Nursing Science, a member of the Academic Board of the Baltic Sea Region Network on Personalized Health Care, a member of the Executive Board of the German Society for Nursing Science, and a member of the Expert Advisory Board of the Innovation Fund; he is also the Coordinating Editor of the „Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group“ und Editor der „Cochrane Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group“.