Pro Care Launches Academy: Nursing Continuing Education Year-Round

<p>The nursing industry is under constant pressure: a shortage of skilled workers, rising demands, and a constant drive for innovation leave little time for continuous professional development. With the newly founded <strong>Pro Care Academy</strong>, the eponymous specialist trade fair aims to address this issue and offer nursing professionals a year-round continuing education program that goes beyond the mere trade fair days.</p><h2>Digital Education as a Starting Point</h2><p>The launch features a digital webinar program on central expert standards in nursing. On September 16, the topic "Care of people with chronic wounds" is on the agenda. The speaker is Mario Gießler, nursing expert for chronic wounds and member of the DNQP expert group for updating the standard. In October and November, further webinars on continence promotion as well as maintenance and promotion of skin integrity will follow. In January 2027, the format "Expert Standards 2027/28: Updates & Outlook" concludes the digital series and provides an outlook on the topics of the coming nursing year.</p><p>Pflegecampus is the Academy's first partner, and the Care vor9 format is also on board. "The central challenges of nursing cannot be adequately addressed in two trade fair days," explains Pro Care project manager Heike Grosch. The Academy should therefore enable continuous knowledge transfer and regular exchange, combining specialist topics with concrete solutions for nursing practice.</p><h2>On-Site Formats at Pro Care 2027</h2><p>On February 2 and 3, 2027, the Academy will then continue in person in Hanover. Planned are a practical seminar, the "Meet the Expert" meeting point, and a live panel discussion on expert standards. Questions and experiences from the digital formats and nursing practice are to flow directly into the topic planning of the upcoming trade fair – an approach that emphasizes the link between digital learning offerings and physical trade fair experience.</p><h2>Review: Strong Growth at Pro Care 2026</h2><p>The expansion of the Academy coincides with a phase of noticeable growth for the specialist trade fair. Pro Care 2026, which took place on February 10 and 11 at the Hanover exhibition center, had already registered significant exhibitor growth six months before the event began: more than 80 companies had confirmed their participation, including established industry leaders such as Miele, EDEKA, and MediFox Dan. "The strong response shows that our concept addresses a relevant need in the industry," says Heike Grosch. "Pro Care is on its way to establishing itself as a central platform for sustainable nursing in Germany."</p><p>Under the motto "Enabling Nursing to Have a Future," the 2026 trade fair offered a broad program of lectures, workshops, and interactive formats. Dr. Johannes Wimmer appeared as keynote speaker, presenting practical nursing courses and live Q&A sessions with his online format "Nursing ABC." In the Pop-Up Area, there were workshops on topics such as clear communication in nursing, supplemented by interactive formats featuring a multifunctional floor lift for activating care.</p><h3>Digital Innovations in Focus</h3><p>Digital and AI-supported applications were particularly well represented in 2026, designed to relieve nursing facilities organizationally and economically. On the InnoStage powered by MEDIFOX DAN, for example, the company imito presented WoundGenius, an AI-supported solution for wound documentation. Other examples included 3D motion analysis for fall prevention by Lindera, intelligent emergency call systems by Veli, and the rectify sensor shirt by MinkTec for preventing back problems in nursing staff. CRM solutions for admission management by providers such as CareMates, Care.One, and CareNext, as well as the IoT-based energy monitoring better.Energy by Betterspace were also part of the exhibition program.</p><p>The offering was complemented by newly introduced Innovation Tours, in which participants visited selected exhibitors on guided tours, who presented their solutions in short pitches. In collaboration with the "Cluster Future of Nursing" of the Nursing Practice Center of Hanover Medical School, which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space, a best-practice area was created with a trend show featuring, among other things, the humanoid robot AMECA from the Oldenburg Institute OFFIS.</p><h2>Conclusion: Year-Round Exchange as a New Trade Fair Formula</h2><p>With the Academy, Pro Care consistently expands its concept to include a temporal dimension: instead of isolated impulses on two trade fair days, an ongoing dialogue is created between professionals, experts, and the industry. The combination of digital webinars and on-site formats at the 2027 trade fair shows how specialist trade fairs are increasingly positioning themselves as year-round knowledge platforms. Given the growing exhibitor interest and the thematic breadth from digital innovations to expert standards, Pro Care is likely to further expand its role as a central meeting point for the German nursing industry.</p>