Digital care beds in long-term care—Support, relief for caregivers or just illusion? An ethnographic explorative study

Abstract

Background: The digitalization of care items, in this case the care bed, is a logical consequence of the general shortage of personnel and resources in professional care and an increase in the number of very old people in need of long-term care. Sensors integrated into the nursing bed, interfaces for data transmission and connection to a monitoring system are generated for moments of support and relief for professional nurses and to increase the nursing outcome. Accompanying nursing research examines the implementation of 97 digital care beds in a long-term care facility for old people. Method: Mixed methods research approach over 24 months Results: The lack or implementation of a consistent care process, unfavorable accompanying circumstances, interdependent contextual factors and an insufficient implementation management have a negative impact on the implementation and integration of the digital care beds into the care routines. Conclusion: For a successful implementation of digital assistance systems (dAS), they have to be considered in the care process besides a reliable technical connection. Furthermore, an implementation management as well as the review and adaptation of all relevant context factors are required.