Pflegestutzpunkte: Care Support Centers in Germany. Where are We Heading? Results of the Evaluation of all 48 Care Support Centers in Baden-Wurttemberg

Objectives The quantitative part of the study was based on an analysis of the structures and concepts as well as the type of services and demand for counseling services for elderly and vulnerable people of all 48 care support centers in Baden-Wurttemberg. The qualitative part included interviews of employees of the care support centers on the underlying concepts of their organization. Methods The counseling infrastructure for elderly and vulnerable people needs to be improved in terms of transparency, networking and coordination of its services. According to the German Care Reform, care support centers, known as Pflegestutzpunkte, should solve this problem by placing all relevant counseling services under one roof. The objective of this study was to distinguish between the various care models of care support centers currently in existence and to investigate how different models meet legal requirements. Results and Conclusions An evaluation of the interviews and surveys shows that not all legal requirements are met. The 4 main models of care support centers vary widely and are partially incomprehensible. It also remains unclear what role the care support centers play in counseling by health and nursing insurances. These needs for further development should be kept in mind in the planned expansion of care support centers

Provision of services and demand for care support centers. Results of the evaluation of all care support centers in Baden-Wurttemberg

The counseling infrastructure for elderly and vulnerable people is characterized by overuse, underuse and misuse. According to the German care reform, care support centers should solve this problem by putting all relevant counseling services under one roof. The aim of this study was to analyze the type of services and demand of German care support centers 5 years after the German care reform came into force. The study was based on an analysis of the documentation of all 48 care support centers in Baden-Wurttemberg after the German care reform came into force and of counseling services for elderly and vulnerable people. The results of the evaluation of all care support centers in Baden-Wurttemberg showed that they offer a wide range of services ranging from counseling services for simple assistance to promoting self-help, up to comprehensive case management. The wide variety of counseling services offered also showed that these care support centers can meet the many different needs and requirements of the clientele. Findings from this study enabled a positive conclusion about the demand to be drawn. It became clear that the services offered are used by many people of all ages who are already in need of care or who are trying to prevent this need from occurring. A consensus about the conceptual development of care provision models employed by care support centers has not yet been achieved in Germany. Findings from this study could be useful in highlighting the need to further develop the care support centers

Neue Wege bei Hygienefortbildungen? Ergebnisse eines Modellprojektes am Universitätsklinikum Köln

J. Hoadley's Waltzer - W21 - whole front view photographed August 1954. Scanned from tinted negative