Steinbeis experts provide academic input on interprofessional education initiative
Elderly patients receiving geriatric care often have more than one medical condition. Such patients require medical support and nursing care that accounts for these different conditions during convalescence. As a result, people in a variety of inpatient and outpatient professions – such as care workers, doctors, and physiotherapists – require a comprehensive specialist understanding of treatment options and medical care. The Geriatrics Quality Association for North-West Germany (QVG NWD) has launched an interprofessional training initiative aimed at improving the sharing of expertise between different professions so that key information on the individual health issues, abilities, and resources of elderly patients can be recorded and considered at an early stage in the medical care process. zeb/business.school, a Steinbeis Transfer Institute at Steinbeis University Berlin (SHB), is providing academic support for the project.
QVG NWD (Qualitätsverbund Geriatrie Nord-West-Deutschland e. V.) has a long-term goal of improving the standards of medical and nursing care for all outpatients and inpatients. In total, 50 facilities have joined the association. To improve the professional standards of all employees who help care for geriatric patients, QVG NWD is offering a targeted program of courses to all types of geriatric care staff.
Assessing the vocational training needs of the people in each occupational group is the starting point for the academic support being provided by the Steinbeis experts. The employees receive training with a focus on geriatric care, under the academic supervision of the experts at the zeb/business. school Steinbeis Transfer Institute. Individual facilities belonging to QVG NWD will also be forming interdisciplinary working groups which will draft a list of specific measures for improving the care of geriatric patients.
The project team will then review progress after four to six months to assess whether the measures have been implemented successfully and to understand any obstacles or difficulties encountered during day-today implementation. Patients and their relatives will also be surveyed using a questionnaire in order to improve the standard of geriatric care. St Franziskus Stiftung in Münster is responsible for carrying out the training program on behalf of QVG NWD. In addition to the academic support being provided by the Steinbeis Transfer Institute zeb/business. school at Steinbeis University Berlin the State Center for Health Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia (LZG.NRW) is providing financial backing to help with the assessment of the different training courses.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Joachim Hasebrook
Steinbeis-Transfer-Institut zeb/business.school (Baden-Baden)