Where is AI already being used in care?

In individual areas: For example, it can be used to recognize patterns and anomalies in patient data as part of automated monitoring, for example to detect deterioration at an early stage. It is also used to predict falls or to determine the workload of nursing staff. Additionally, AI can analyze data such as images and videos or voice files and texts, and thus support care documentation, for example. Robotic systems even assist with physical labor such as cleaning or are used as robotic lifting aids in inpatient care. There are also helpful systems that interact directly with people, reacting to gestures and speech, such as the PARO robot seal for people with dementia or the Navel social robot, which can interact directly with people and hold conversations.

But it must also be said that so far only a few AI applications have found their way into broad care. Hospitals in particular use them, while nursing homes and outpatient services are often not yet ready.

Your ProKIP project started five years ago. What have you found out so far?

Since 2021, the ProKIP research project (the abbreviation stands for “process development and support for the use of AI in nursing” or “Prozessentwicklung und -begleitung zum KI-Einsatz in der Pflege” in German) has been investigating how AI can be successfully integrated into everyday nursing care. To this end, an “AI Nursing Readiness Assessment” has been developed to help assess challenges and success factors for the use of AI. In the sub-project “Making Repositories and AI Systems Usable in Everyday Nursing Care (KIP)” (“Repositorien und KI-Systeme im Pflegealltag nutzbar machen”), the University of Bremen is the coordinator of a research network consisting of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, and the Association for Digitization in the Social Economy. We have set up platforms for the exchange of research findings and established coaching sessions and laboratories for the development of AI solutions.

“AI should not and must not replace human care, but should support care workers” Prof. Dr. Karin Wolf-Ostermann

What challenges do you see?

For AI applications to be successfully implemented, a number of conditions must be met: Good digital infrastructure is important. It must be clear to the healthcare professional why the technology is being used and that it is useful for everyday care. Care facilities also need clear guidelines for the use of AI. However, a legal and financial framework is also necessary because many AI applications will be classified as high-risk technologies in the future. What is also important is that nursing staff must be trained accordingly and involved in the development of new technologies.

Are there many concerns?

In our experience, many nursing professionals are open to AI, but also skeptical about it. One thing must be clear: AI should not and must not replace human care, but should support care workers. In doing so, a balance must always be struck between the benefits of care and the ethical risks. Fortunately, the horror scenario of fully automated robotic care without human involvement is not an option that we have to fear at present.

Bremen already has a lot to show for its research on AI in nursing.

Yes, the University of Bremen is one of the leading locations in Germany when it comes to this topic. Since 2017, we have been in the spotlight with many renowned research projects on the topic of digitalization/AI and nursing – be it the Nursing Care Innovation Center, the “Future of Nursing” cluster, or the ProKIP project and its forerunner, the SOKI exploratory project. But there are also individual projects for fall detection and relieving the burden on caregivers (ETAP and Save&Safe), as well as participation in a Marie Skłodowska Curie graduate program (DISTINCT) and a DFG Research Training Group together with the University of Oldenburg (HEARAZ).

A lighthouse project in the field of long-term care was successfully launched in Bremen last year: The transfer cluster (“Transfercluster Akademischer Lehrpflegeeinrichtungen in der Langzeitpflege”) brings together science, technology development, care and care recipients in the context of everyday care for the development and testing of AI systems and their subsequent transfer to the general public.