CHALLENGE
Briefer hospital stays and improved rehabilitation processes in connection with surgery in Danish hospitals could reduce costs and increase patient satisfaction.

The project examines whether the use of telemedicine can lead to optimised patient care, and which patients stand to benefit from the solution.

FINDINGS
For optimum results, the development of new technology should take place in a cooperation involving healthcare staff, IT-developers, designers, ethno-graphers and patients and their relatives.

A telemedicine solution should have a design that is appropriate for the home setting, and it should avoid pathologising the patient.

In many cases, hospital stays can be reduced from two and a half days to one, without compromising on patient safety and satisfaction.

SOLUTION
The project “Remote Rehabilitation Support” developed a prototype for a future ICT solution in the area of telemedicine. The prototype should support the patients’ rehabilitation at home after hip surgery by facilitating the communication between home and hospital. It is operated by use of a simple remote control, and the information is displayed on the patient’s TV screen. The interdisciplinary cooperation in the project has enabled the hospital to improve patient care, hospital practices, patient information and education and the inclusion of relatives.

Partners involved Regionshospitalet Silkeborg, Department of Computer Science Aarhus University, SAS Institute A/S, Capgemini, Mark Film A/S, TDC and Caretech Innovation.

“Remote Rehabilitation Support” is a Caretech Innovation project. The initiative is funded by the EU and Regional Development Programme of the Central Denmark Region and anchored in the Alexandra Institute A/S.