To mark International Nurses Day 2026, three of our nursing professionals share insights into their daily work, their motivation, and the tasks that define their role at the Travel Clinic UZH (ZRM).

Three nurses, three insights into their daily work

The work of our nursing team is varied and encompasses far more than many people might assume at first glance. If you have ever had an appointment with us at the Travel Clinic UZH, you were likely supported by one of our nursing professionals – whether through the administration of vaccinations, an STI check, participation in a study, or in a pre-travel medical consultation. Behind the scenes, too, our nurses carry out essential work every day: they prepare vaccines, coordinate processes, and use their expertise to ensure that daily operations run smoothly.

Just as diverse as their tasks are the people who carry them out. Behind every role are individual career paths, different areas of focus, and a great deal of dedication.

In the following section, we introduce three of our nurses, who offer personal insights into their work at the ZRM.

Katharina

Name: Katharina Burri

Role at ZRM: Registered Nurse

How long have you been with us? Since 2021

What exactly are your responsibilities at the Travel Clinic UZH?

My responsibilities include:

• Travel medicine consultations

• Follow-up consultation appointments

• Administration of vaccinations

• Supporting vaccination programs for people in the asylum process

• Providing training sessions and professional lectures

What is something patients often do not see, but that is an important part of the job?

The professional complexity
Clinical thinking, observation, assessing situations, and acting proactively.

The responsibility
Nursing professionals make important decisions every day and share responsibility for the safety of patients.

The holistic perspective
It is not only about diagnoses, but also about psychological, social, cultural, and often religious aspects, as well as the patient’s environment, all of which have a significant impact on health and well-being.

The emotional burden
Dealing with illness, pain, fear, or death requires inner strength.

The organization behind the scenes
Coordination, documentation, interdisciplinary collaboration, the nursing process (observation, planning, implementation, evaluation), and continuity of care.

Communication
Conversations with patients, relatives, and the team are central and often demanding.

Adaptability
Every situation is different – nursing means responding to people flexibly and individually.

What does good care mean to you personally?

To me, good care means supporting people with empathy and in a holistic way through different life situations, while building a relationship of trust. At the center of this are actively involving them in decisions, promoting their well-being, preserving their resources, and ensuring their safety.

Careful observation is also very important, as is evidence-based planning, implementation, and evaluation of care tailored to each situation in order to ensure high-quality care.

Why did you choose this profession?

The combination of medical expertise, practical skills, responsibility, and direct contact with patients fascinated me from the very beginning. Being able to support and guide people professionally and compassionately through different life situations, often at very vulnerable moments, motivated me to choose this profession.

Sabine

Name: Sabine Stalder

Role at ZRM: Registered Nurse

How long have you been with us? I have been working at the ZRM since 2020; I joined during the pandemic.

What exactly are your responsibilities at the Travel Clinic UZH?

I do pre-travel medicine consultations, care for clients who come for follow-up vaccinations, and support refugees who receive their basic immunizations with us. Most of the time, I am also involved in a project, such as giving training sessions at other institutions.

What do you like most about your work with us?

I really enjoy the interdisciplinary collaboration and the broad range of topics in my work. I am a travel enthusiast, so here I can combine my passion for my profession with my love of travel. I find prevention a particularly exciting topic, and it is a key focus in my work here.

What does good care mean to you personally?

In this setting at the ZRM, it is important to me to understand each client as an individual and to equip them with the medical tools they need for their journey. This means maintaining a good balance between pointing out potential risks and strengthening their knowledge of how to protect themselves and what to do if problems arise. Sometimes that requires sensitivity and a good sense of what kind of person is sitting in front of me. That is what makes the work so interesting.

Barbara

Name: Barbara Bichsel-Von Arb

Role at ZRM: Study and Project Coordinator / Registered Nurse

How long have you been with us? Since 2021.

What exactly are your responsibilities at the Travel Clinic UZH?

My responsibilities in the clinic include preparing vaccinations, administering vaccines, and providing short consultations for travelers (Fast Track), as well as STI checks in the area of sexual health.

When new services are being developed, I work in project teams on their implementation in the clinic and take care of processes and nursing-specific SOPs. Together with my colleagues, I was also involved in setting up our new SharePoint platform as part of the new intranet project.

In the research area, I am part of the Research Office team and support the implementation of studies involving clinical data. This mainly involves processes for compliant and people-centered data collection from study participants in the clinic. In addition, I also work actively as a study nurse in data collection.

What do you like most about your work with us?

I enjoy interacting with people. So many interesting and sometimes moving life stories come together here, along with exciting travel plans and life paths. What I especially like is being at the center of this intersection, supporting and advising people individually. I also find it very exciting to work with an additional focus on research.

What does good care mean to you personally?

Individual care and support in the clinical setting are what make a consultation with us not just average, but high-quality and person-centered. It means being able to deal with fears, chronic illnesses, turbulent family situations, or cultural differences, and taking people seriously with their questions or challenges and finding solutions together.

What would you like to share with patients?

There is always an individually tailored way forward – challenges can be overcome together.

A heartfelt thank-you

The insights shared by our three nursing professionals show just how diverse their work at the ZRM is – and how much expertise, responsibility, and humanity lie behind it. On International Nurses Day, we would like to sincerely thank them for their daily commitment and outstanding dedication.