Potentials of Care 4.0 for Long-Term Care

Germany’s care system is facing some fundamental challenges in light of demographic trends, societal developments, and structural issues. New approaches must be found to improve working conditions and relieve the burden on care staff while helping to ensure high-quality care to make care sustainable in spite of these challenges. Expectations to the use of assistive technologies in handling the triangle of quality of care, quality of care work, and economic efficiency are high. 

This focus paper presents the key findings of our study “Potentials of Care 4.0 – How innovative technologies create relief and change the job satisfaction of nursing specialists in long-term care” in a condensed form. It points out the relief achieved by innovative technologies based on specific case studies conducted in Germany and abroad. It names preconditions as well as recommendations for action to allow even better realization of the potential effects shown in German care practice in the future.