Sint-Truiden (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – 12 first-year nursing students from PIVH now follow theory classes at Sint-Trudo Hospital in Sint-Truiden, director Inge Cleren confirmed, strengthening links between education and healthcare in Limburg.
As VRT News reported, students at the Provincial Institute for Nursing in Hasselt (PIVH) now follow a large part of their training at Sint-Trudo Hospital in Sint-Truiden. Last year, some classes were held in an office at Stayen, but that setup has been expanded. From this academic year, most of the first-year nursing students’ theory lessons take place inside the hospital. 12 students began their classes at Sint-Trudo this week.
“These aren’t online classes; they’re taught on-site by a teacher, three days a week. The hospital is making one of its classrooms available for this purpose,”
explains PIVH director Inge Cleren.
What impact will the PIVH and Sint-Trudo partnership have on the Limburg nurse shortage?
The lessons at the hospital are limited to theory, while practical sessions continue at PIVH in Hasselt. The school provides practice rooms with manikins and medical equipment. Once these skills are mastered, the students move on to internships in the hospital. The cooperation also comes at a time when Limburg and other regions face a rising demand for qualified nurses.
The Provincial Institute for Nursing (PIVH) in Hasselt anticipates that the partnership established with Sint-Trudo Hospital will bring interest from more students located in Haspengouw. According to Inge Cleeren, there will be an increasing demand for health care workers in the coming years.
“We need many more people in healthcare. Every profile is important, but not all students can easily travel to Hasselt for the program,”
she said.
The new arrangement brings part of the training back to Sint-Truiden, where a nursing school once existed but closed years ago. Students in North Limburg already follow some classes at Syntra in Pelt, and young people in Haspengouw now receive the same opportunity closer to home.
“This is a significant added value for our hospital,”
says Dries Ceulemans of the Sint-Trudo training centre.
“It’s enriching to be able to share knowledge and experience with an educational institution, while also seeing our future colleagues grow up close. The presence of students also brings a fresh dynamic to our organisation.”
Flanders has been facing a growing shortage of nurses for more than a decade, a problem highlighted by the Flemish government as early as 2010 and reinforced during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.
According to the Flemish Employment and Vocational Training Service (VDAB), healthcare remains one of the sectors with the highest number of hard-to-fill vacancies, with more than 6,000 nursing jobs unfilled in 2023. Several educational institutions have since worked with hospitals to bring training closer to students’ home regions.
