Family members help – recognition, money, ai: ways from the nurse crisis

Robots as a partner and for personal and biographical conversations have great potential and are already used in nursing. “We can feed them with data about the respective people and they help us to promote our condition and discuss our worries and wishes. Personal speech is also exactly what is short if there is a shortage of care,” says Raphael Schönborn, Nursing and De Rand, in an interview with the “Krone”. However, ethical aspects must be taken into account. At the moment this is still a marginal phenomenon, “but certainly relevant for the future”.

Japan is a pioneer in the development of nursing robots
For example, dementia patients can be entertained by AI and motivated to move, so that there are fewer lay times. One subject is also assisted living, which is, for example, monitored, for example where the refrigerator is often opened or the toilet is used. If something is wrong, the AI ​​alarm lifts. In China, especially in Japan, real nursing robots are investigated that actually do manual work.

Japan invests the equivalent of ten billion euros in robot systems for care. Also developed in Japan 20 years ago “Paro”, a 60 cm long cuddly toy robot, which is used for therapeutic purposes. Paro is a doll that is modeled on the boy of a saddle side. It is said that it has a calming influence on patients with dementia. The idea is based on the experiences of therapy assisted by Dieren.

In Austria, 80 percent of people who need care are still mainly cultivated by their family members at home. In the future, however, not only the number of people who need care will increase, but also the number of family members. “In 2050 it will be assumed that this source will increase half, so that this pressure on the nursing personnel increases again,” said Schönborn. A fundamental reconsideration is needed. In Scandinavian countries, care is seen much less as a private task, but as a public task. In Austria a lot of money will be released by care allowance, care provision and the same. “All this is not correct, we should invest the money in professional care.”

Care at home must be qualified
In the Netherlands there is a showcase project called Buurtzorg (“Neighborhood Care”). In this nurse concept, an independent team of about ten people organizes its work independently, including planning and communication with general practitioners. A central goal of the model is to record family and neighborhood and to support the independence of the patients. “With the same effort, they have much better output with regard to the quality of care, but also with regard to the satisfaction of employees. On the other hand, the trend has to qualify this mobile care much more. And not only the families give money and they have to see how they organize the care of their family members,” says Schönborn.

Austria has invested in nursing training in recent years. Moreover, there are various models in the federal states, which are responsible, to bring foreign nurses into the country. They come from Eastern Europe, Asia and even South America. A few years ago Burgenland introduced an employment model for care providers. Through work at Nursing Department Burgenland GmbH, family members receive payment, social security and basic training.

“We find it difficult to create an attractive workplace. More and more nurses are leaving the profession at an early stage. We actually have not too few nurses who have been trained, but we have the problem that the nursing staff left the job,” said Schönborn. Access to care in the heavy employee regulation is intended to make the profession more attractive. Heavy work means that you can retire at the age of 60 if you have at least 45 years of insurance and have done heavy work in the last 20 years.

“For our society, the work of nurses is a central support. Healthcare is systemically relevant. It is in our interest that there are fair working conditions for nurses,” said Minister of Health and Social Affairs Korinna Schumann (Spö). “We are aware that care is one of the most difficult jobs in Landzorg is difficult work. It is therefore important to classify nurses where you belong,” adds August Wöginger, chairman of the ÖVP club.