Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
The long-term residential care sector faces a dual practical challenge: due to the rising number of people in need of care in Germany and the shortage of qualified nursing staff, both outpatient and inpatient care facilities must develop into attractive workplaces while also ensuring the efficient use of resources.
The model project “Pflege 2030” addresses this challenge. Its goal is to connect care processes, workforce organization, and digital innovations in such a way that working hours are used efficiently and employee job satisfaction increases, while at the same time improving the quality of care and the satisfaction of care recipients.
With the “Pflege 2030” model project, a practical testing and evaluation environment is being created at the “Haus Curanum” nursing facility in Karlsfeld (Dachau district). This environment enables technical and organizational innovations to be tested under real-life conditions and scientifically evaluated in collaboration with commercial providers of technologies for residential care.
Using digital technologies to create future-proof care
By integrating various digital technologies (e.g., for documentation, mobilization, social participation, robotics, and assistive systems) into everyday care in a needs-based manner, the project aims to improve care quality and reduce the burden on nursing staff.
To ensure the successful use of potential technologies in long-term care, the requirements of the nursing staff and appropriate technological solutions are identified together with them. These technologies are then tested in practice at Haus Curanum in Karlsfeld and evaluated in terms of user experience (UX), usability, and acceptance among the staff.
In addition to selecting, integrating, and evaluating technologies already available on the market, pre-competitive and near-market-ready technologies are also implemented in a so-called future lab and assessed regarding their potential future benefit in easing everyday care work.