How can the work of nurses in the healthcare system be made easier? On Tuesday, a former caretaker presented his idea to the lion’s den. He wants to make bureaucratic processes easier with an app.
Thomas Müller was 28 when a diagnosis changed his life: cancer. He was treated for a year – and learned to appreciate the work of the nursing staff. The fact that people work so hard to make a stranger heal touched him.
After he got well, he trained himself as a nurse and worked in the profession for 14 years. During this time, he also experienced the dark side of the industry: shift work, overtime, understaffed night work, emergency care, stress.
“Curassist” should help independent nurses
A special problem: caregivers who are unable to return to work after pregnancy and birth. Shift work is not compatible with small children, Müller said in the program “Die Höhle der Löwen”. Actually, there would be a solution for mothers and other caregivers: They could become self-employed and thus work more flexibly – for example, taking over care services in patients’ homes.
However, this is not so easy. According to Müller, it takes twelve months to enforce a corresponding application – in order to be able to care for only one person. “The bureaucracy stands in the way of caring for people,” said Müller on the show.
(Photo: TVNOW / Bernd-Michael Maurer)
To change that, the former nurse developed the “Curassist” app. The app is supposed to take over the registration processes and the complex billing, thus making freelance work easier. Applications should no longer take twelve months, but only one, using the app. The nurses pay EUR 8.90 a month for the service.
The Lion’s Den: The jurors like the idea
The lions were impressed by the founder’s emotional appearance. Jury member Nils Glagau said that Müller was the most authentic participant of the show so far. However, the app has so far only generated around EUR 1,000 in sales per month, not enough for some of the business people.
Nevertheless, a deal came about: Dagmar Wöhrl and Carsten Maschmeyer agreed to jointly invest 500,000 euros – for 30 percent of the company’s shares. However, the agreement apparently broke in retrospect: “We had different opinions regarding the business model, which we could not agree on,” said Thomas Müller of the online portal “Start-up scene”. The start-up also grows without the help of the lions.
Utopia thinks: Every relief for caregivers is an important step. Perhaps the app will enable them to have more self-determination at work and better working conditions. However, an app alone is not enough: the shortcomings in the nursing industry are so extensive that political measures are necessary. Overwork, poor pay, understaffing and too little time for patients are part of the everyday life of many carers. At the latest – at the time of the corona crisis – everyone should be clear: these problems concern us all.
Read more on Techzle.com:
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- The Lion’s Den: These are the most popular products since the show started
- Lion’s den: Po shower embarrasses lions
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