Improving communication between healthcare suppliers and their patients using latest technologies

Abstract

Background: The inversion of the population pyramid where elderly is getting broader than the newborn generations, the exponential increase of citizens with chronic diseases & the communication channel disruption induced in our society by communication technologies are the foundation of the challenges our healthcare sector (HCS) is experiencing nowadays. The HCS is jumping slowly in new technology trends to keep providing equal /better service with less resources & higher customer overload. Digitalization of manual processes/protocols is a necessity. The talk address some of the strategies used today to overcome the challenges HCS suffer today, how they have been implemented & what will be the future. Method: Synthesis of experiences made so far with. 1- www.patientpjecen.dk: A self-management tool for patients to cope with their chronic diseass, 2- www.optimov.com: A tele rehabilitation platform to treat patients from a distance with physical activity supervised by the physiotherapist Results: 7500 patients with chronic diseases have used patientpjecen.dk to cope with their symptoms the last year. In our preliminary qualitative study, 13 patients (7 males) were allocated into three focus-groups, ranged between 40 & 86 years old. Four major themes were identified & have been classified as: patient’s motivation to cope their chronic disease & keep training using the online communication rehabilitation program, experiences with the web portal, recommendations for further improvements & benefits from the digitalization of the rehabilitation services. 300 therapists has been using Optimov.com in the last year to evaluate & adjust the online-rehabilitation plan of their patients. A 60-years old COPD male & a 28-years old multiple sclerosis woman who uses Optimov in a daily basis were interviewed. The value such treatment protocol give to them is the major discussed theme. Discussion: What are the coming challenges of telecommunication in health care & how those can be addressed in the future?