Project period
2017-2024
Funding
Norwegian Nurses Organisation and Oslo University Hospital
Summary
The growing number of persons with chronic or long term illnesses is one of the biggest health care challenges worldwide, threatening the infrastructure of health care systems with skyrocketing costs and demands on resources. eHealth interventions may be a key solution to this challenge, providing new and more easily accessible methods for patient – provider communication, facilitating new models for chronic care, with cost saving time- and place-flexible low-threshold communication, care and support.
Despite distinct calls by governmental guidelines, eHealth interventions to facilitate person centered care and communication have yet to be implemented into clinical practice. The project aims to change this discrepancy. Based on user (i.e., patients, nurses and physicians) needs and requirements, the overall aim of this project is to advance care processes by adapting and implementing an eHealth intervention for people with complex chronic illness, into day care units in hospital settings. The eHealth intervention contains of a symptom and needs assessment tool that enables patients to report symptoms and preferences for care prior to consultation, combined with the opportunity to send secure e-mails to their treatment team between consultations. Using highly participatory service design methods, the intervention will be designed, implemented and evaluated in a hospital setting.
The study has its main focus on adapting an eHealth intervention into two separate clinical settings for patients with chronic long term illnesses. Specifically, clinical units at Oslo University hospital (OUH) treating patients receiving renal replacement therapy, (e.g., renal transplant) and non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) receiving surgery, will participate for study purposes. Using participatory design, with user representatives including patients, nurses, physicians, scientists and IT developers, the main objectives are to:
- Adapt an existing eHealth intervention to specific context such as type of illness and health care setting
- Implement the eHealth intervention in different out-patient settings at OUH
- Evaluate the implementation process, system use, user experiences and satisfaction, and to study effect on patient outcomes
Collaborators
- Section of Specialized Endocrinology, Department of Endocrinology, Morbid Obesity and Preventive Medicine, Division of Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Nephrology, Division of Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
