Open Innovation Nursing Lab (OPINION Lab)

What makes this project unique? OPINION Lab, which stands for OPen INnovatIOn Nursing Lab, is a collaboration between scientists and nursing home practice, in which researchers are actively involved in nursing home practice. One main strength of the OPINION Lab is that nursing scientists, nursing staff members, nursing home managers, residents and their relatives work together as equal partners. Furthermore, the OPINION Lab addresses practice-oriented care needs and incorporates practice knowledge on and from the individual residents (wishes, needs, preferences) as well as regarding nursing care routines and evidence based knowledge in order to ensure best nursing care. Thereby the project can maximize knowledge creation, increase its transfer potential and develop a holistic, resident-centered approach. How will the public benefit from your project/findings? By improving the quality of nursing home care through evidence based practice, residents outcomes especially their quality of life will increase. The implementation of effective interventions will help to reduce unnecessary expenditure and thus reduce costs. Furthermore, the project can help to improve the image of nursing homes in terms of workplaces, with the aim to establish the nursing home as an attractive work environment. This can contribute to decreasing staff shortages in nursing homes and, in turn, to reducing the workload of nursing home staff. Moreover, within our OPINION Lab, research methods can be developed further by incorporating the ideas of nursing staff members, nursing home managers, residents and their relatives.