The effects of demographic change and of the mounting shortage of skilled workers are placing an ever greater burden on nursing care professionals and will again increase significantly in the near future, not least because of a pandemic-related deterioration of working conditions. To counter this effectively, Project POINTED at the Hessian Institute of Nursing Research [Hessisches Institut für Pflegeforschung (HessIP)] develops and evaluates interdisciplinary media-assisted intervision concepts in the form of group-dynamic instructions. It is designed to empower care teams to solve problems independently using mutual team coaching programs that can run autonomously. POINTED relies on the demonstrably more effective approach of conflict prevention.

Teams that meet without an external professional supervisor to reflect on their professional work do so in the form of “intervision” – in contradistinction to supervision. The goal is to provide sustainable relief and support to heterogeneous care teams in all areas by empowering them to manage psychosocial and interpersonal stress independently. Permanent overstrain can cause physical and psychological stress and lead to burnout syndrome, as well as to increasing absenteeism and ultimately even early departure from a career. Only if effective support is provided to nursing professionals in workplace settings that pose a health risk is it possible to guarantee adequate nursing care in Germany over the long term.