Health Care 4.0. goes Mobile

"<< Background >>The demographic development had led to an increased need of labour in the Health care sector. At the same time Germany and many other European countries suffered of a shortage of skilled labour in this sector. Even though there are initiatives to qualify staff within the country the current and future demand of qualified staff cannot be covered without recruiting personnel abroad. But Care Institutions, who recruit care professionals from abroad, reported back that even professionals with a degree in the health sector are not appropriately qualified for the daily work routine in Germany. This is because requirements and daily work routine in care institutions do differ between countries. The obstacles of newly arrived migrants to integratesmoothly in the new world of work can be summarized as followed: - Work related skills gaps due to differing workrequirements in new home countries - Work related language skills gaps - Cultural differences- newly- arrived migrants-people with linguistic adaptation and cultural inclusion difficulties - Social barriers = social adjustment difficulties such aslimited social competences in regards to the customs in the new home country- an especially sensitive topic in the health care sector.<< Objectives >>The project aimed at closing the skills gap between the theoretical qualifications of NEWLY ARRIVED MIGRANTS WITH A NURSE DEGREE (TARGET GROUP) and the requirements of the CARE INSTITUTIONS (BENEFICIARIES) of the new home country including work based language skills and missing intercultural competences and motivational aspects which allow a better integration and a more efficient onboarding of newly arrived migrant workers. This was designed as a flexible learning offer adapted to the learning needs of the target group (blended learning translated into an mobile app). As outlined above the occupational group of HELPERS were facing similar problems in regards to the integration in the work place in a new home country. The project consortium therefore highlighted the existing similarities within the curriculum (project result 1) so that a SECOND TARGET GROUP namely CARE HELPERS within the health care sector could benefit from the project results too (Result 2-3: Health Care 4.0. Audiovisual material and Mobile App). The PROJECT THEREFORE CONTRIBUTEd TO INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY IN VET AS WELL AS INNOVATION AND THE ADAPTATION OF VET TO LABOUR MARKET NEEDS and increased the flexibility of opportunities in VET. << Implementation >>In order for being able to create a mobile app (our project result3) it was necessary to excel different project activities, which ultimately led to the final outcome of the project. Based on an extensive needs analysis performed during our last European funded project we have developed a curriculum based on skills, competecencs and knowledge (R1/PA1). Our direct target group were adult learners/newly arrived migrants with a nurse degree freshly immigrated to a new home country namely Germany, Greece, Cyprus. Due to relocation to a new home country they were lacking of specific required skills and intercultural competences for the daily work in care institutions. Another identified target group were migrant care takers coming from abroad. This target group was equally facing difficulties in integrating smoothly in the world of work in the new home country and will also strongly benefit from the results of this project. As many skills/competences and knowledge are the same for this occupational group we have highlighted the similarities so that the results of the project can be used by this additional target group of care helpers too (R1/PA2). After developing the curriculum we have gathered feedback from beneficiaries (health care institutions) and experts in the field (R1/PA3). As a result of this we have adapted and finalized the contents for the curriculum and have translated them into all partner languages namely German, Greek, English (R1/PA4). As a next step we developed a script for the mobile app based on the finalized curriculum (R2/PA1). This enabled us to develop the content: we had filmed video sequenqes and produced Audio material for our mobile app (R2/PA2). After this step we have gathered feedback from our R2/PA3: Feedback from target group 1 (MIGRANT NURSES) , target group 2 (CARE HELPERS) as well as the beneficiaries of the project (health care institutions)- (R2/PA3). Based on this feedback we have adapted and finalized the contents and translated all material in all partner languages namely Greek, German, English (R2/PA5).For being able to create the Mobile app it was necessary to perform the Technical set up (which included hosting, server, theme and other plug-ins implementation and testing, general settings like the user profiles and rights, navigation (R3/PA1). As a next step is was necessary to set up the implementation of course setting, navigation, invitation setting, announcements, grading and grouping etc. (R3/ PA2). R3/PA4 involved the evaluation and the user management (Usability testing and content peer review (within the partnership) with first technical and content adaptations). After this step we performed a pilot test phase with our target group to ensure user- friendliness (R3/PA5). Based on the feedback of the pilot phase we have finalized the mobile app and ensured the translation in all partner languages namely Greek, German, English (R3/PA6). Beside the activities, which were needed to develop our project results we have organized 4 transnational partner meetings and 4 Mulitiplier Events in each country. We have also performed various activities related to the management of the project, which spanned over the whole duration of the project. This included also the creation of an interim report and the final report. Furthermore we have disseminated and exploited the project results to our best whenever possible (please see communication and dissemination plan). << Results >>Result 1: ""HEALTH CARE 4.0. – Curriculum"" (Lead: Europcare)Result 2: ""HEALTH CARE 4.0.- Audiovisual Material"" (Lead: Europcare)Result 3: ""HEALTH CARE 4.0.- Mobile App"" (Lead: BEST)"