Tablets for senior citizens and nursing staff are increasingly being used in the home care sector and in nursing homes in Germany. The aim is for tablet-based assistance systems to support people with dementia and provide help against cognitive decline and social isolation.

German care-tech provider Media4Care has now announced that the digital care of senior citizens using tablets has already been deployed in every third home for senior citizens in Germany. Worldwide, 40,000 senior citizens are already using the so-called Digital Health Start-Up service.

WHAT HAPPENED

The 60+ generation is often reluctant to use smart devices. Media4Care has therefore set itself the goal of providing tablets suitable for senior citizens that simplify use and access to the digital world for older people and their carers and relatives.

The tablet assistance system used in nursing homes and homes for the elderly includes a caregiver tablet for individual and group care of an average of 10 seniors and offers elderly people around 700 easy-to-use applications developed in cooperation with professional nursing staff.

The spectrum ranges from entertainment and cognitive activity to movement instructions and communication for the elderly via video telephony, text and picture messages. As early as 2018, the assistance system was used in over 3,000 nursing and care facilities in Germany and Austria and is currently used in every third facility in Germany.

Furthermore, Media4Care has developed a tablet for seniors and for private households, with which they, as well as their relatives, can better network and exchange social information. Here, too, a variety of activities, memory training and guided access to the Internet are made possible. Relatives can download the corresponding app for the Media4Care Tablet and chat with the tablet owner and make phone calls via video.

ON THE RECORD

"We wanted to develop a solution that would both promote cognitive skills and reduce the social isolation of seniors," explained Marc Aurel Engels, founder of the company. The aim of the caregiver tablet is to modernise the care industry and help seniors stay in better contact with their families through the family apps.

"We believe in the future of solutions that will make it easier for employees in nursing homes to work with people in an empathetic and focused manner," said Dr Petra Becker, managing director of Dr Becker Klinikgruppen in Cologne, who has used the tablet assistance system. With the digital support, there are now new ways of interpersonal communication for older people.

Media4Care was founded in 2013 in Berlin and Munich and has received extensive financial support since then.

Further information can be found here.

Anna Engberg is a Wiesbaden-based freelance journalist specialising in health and technology.