Projects / Programmes
E-health care process support
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 7.00.00 |
Interdisciplinary research |
|
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B110 |
Biomedical sciences |
Bioinformatics, medical informatics, biomathematics biometrics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 1.02 |
Natural Sciences |
Computer and information sciences |
care, e-care, e-health, screening, asthma, diabetes, physical activity, process modeling, ICT, SOAP, internet services, middleware
Researchers (31)
Organisations (6)
Abstract
Chronic noncommunicable diseaases represent an important and growing threat to sustainability of health care systems. To fight this cahllenge reserves in health care system need to be better utilized and health care innovation is needed. The unoptimal care process and poor patient engagement in this process are key topics of this project.eHealth (information an dcommuication technologies in health care) enables relatively quick and effortless implementation of innovative health care services. The project will use years of experience of konsortium partners to develop, implement and evaluate innovative health care interventions, utilizing eHealth and contemporary organizational approaches. Asthma, diabetes mellitus type and anxiety disorder are very common conditions that importantly reduce lifestyle quality and have an important system-level disease burden. Common for these conditions are poor screening, prevention and therapy, all leading to more developed disease presentation with complications, psychosocial and financial consequences.
In scope of the project the clinical content and processes for integrated health care of populations at risk for chronic noncommunicable diseases and patients will be supported with automation and active patient engagement technologies. The solution will be based on a generic technological platform, enabling efficient management of clinical and process know-how and semantic interoperability that all serve as predispositions of contemporary health care information systems.
The project's aim is to measure (expectedlxy positive) clonical effects of eHealth supported interventions for importanc chronic diseases. These results will serve as guidelines for further health care system development in Slovenia and important contribution to eHealth knowledge in worldwode research perspective. The developed interventions will improve competitiveness of slovene eHealth, public health and care provision institutions (both research- and business-wise). The outcomes of the project will increasegrowth of slovene eHealth market and directly (with cost savings) and indirectly (improving efficiency of workforce) benefit the economy and welfare of the Republic of Slovenia.
Significance for science
The presented research project is interdisciplinary therefore the research results are also interdisciplinary and have impact in various fields. Technologically speaking, the prototype system developed within the framework of the project, is innovative as we were not able to find the literature any single ICT platform to support the chronic disease management. The platform with its concept of continuous co-operation with the patient or the user, strongly emphasizes the patient empowerment. Since the platform is designed by taking into account the eHeatlh standards and beyond, it offers the highest level of interoperability and connectivity with other systems in health care. In addition, the design allows easy localization in other language environments, which proved to be of interest to exploit the project results in international projects. Finally, the software is designed and developed using open source technologies and is itself released under an open source license. An example of the added value of this decision constitutes a development of the mobile applications mSport, which was completed in less than one month (the transfer to mobile technology and the development of the intervention). The performed studies are also important in terms of assessing the meaningfulness of (clinical, financial) using ICT tools in clinical practice for better results in prevention, screening and treatment at primary and secondary levels. One of the concerns during the system design was the acceptability of the extra work for the patient. It turns out that for most patients, the system was acceptable and unobtrusive. At the same time it allowed better control over the patient health status, faster detection of exacerbations and controlled action, adaptation of therapy and planning of control visits. The study, as one of the few randomized trials in primary health care in Slovenia, is a very important milestone for the evaluation of the successful application of medical informatics. We should emphasize the fact that the success of weight loss with the help of ICT, both in the world and in Slovenia is still a very unexplored territory, although the development of modern technologies enables users an increased access to web applications. In Slovenia, so far, has not been carried out comparative research, which is why this research is a base for evaluation and further development of successful ICT supported weight-loss programs in primary health care. Financial results of the study were not evaluated, but a rough estimate suggests that ICT environment enables 24/7 contact with patients without large financial contributions. On the other hand, the developed environment enables fast and consequently cheaper development of new interventions for patient care.
Significance for the country
The project has a multidimensional positive impact on the development of society and economy in Slovenia. The introduction of ICT-based systems for the care od chronic patients allows better control over patient's treatment, offering care to patients even during exacerbations, and not just during the regular control visits, timely response to deterioration which reduces the possibility of the onset of heavy exacerbations. Consequently, we can reasonably expect an improved health condition and consequently a reduction in sick leave and increased productivity of the working population. Such studies enable the development of more efficient use of modern technology in primary health care. In the future, they will enable access to an effective weight loss program for all overweight and obese population in the Republic of Slovenia, regardless of their socioeconomic status. In this way, we could reduce the incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases linked to obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle, and consequently help to reduce the cost of the health care system. To summarize, the use of the developed system for screening and prevention will, in the case of free access, enable usage by the widest range of people who would be indirectly empowered to care for their health. The results are important for the uptake of such tools in clinical practice. With a relatively small budget such systems could be installed into clinical practice in order to obtain both end-users (patients, medical staff), as well as planners, health care (Ministry of Health, National Institute of Public Health) and funders (the Health Insurance Slovenia and commercial insurance). The second dimension represents the development of ICT environments and tools. This market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world and gained and developed knowledge means a comparative advantage that now has our industry. Some initial results are reflected in self-employment of some coworkers on the project in their own companies - conditionally speaking spin-offs. The third dimension represents the gained knowledge and reputation of Slovenia, since such projects promote Slovenia in the international arena. We have already mentioned self-employed workers, but we should add the successful work of companies that were indirectly involved with the researchers on the project. Finally, some project members were actively involved in the national eHealth project to build an interoperable eHealth spine. The eHealth project was run by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia. An important dimension represents established connections between the partners, which are already preparing a similar project at the international, European level.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2010,
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2010,
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
