The pilot, which began in March, has focused on evaluating how well digital tools can be integrated into the business and what support it provides for dementia investigations and follow-up of patients. The aspects evaluated are:
· User-friendliness
· Efficiency
· Availability
In addition to the dementia team working at the two health centres, Region Värmland has also involved Digital Well Arena and Nordic MedTest to support the project with process distress and review of the technology. Data has been collected continuously from staff, patients and relatives and a cost and benefit calculation has been prepared as a basis for procurement decisions. The identification of types of benefits is based on Inera's model for calculating benefits and costs.
During the test period, significant time savings were found to be realiseable in the short term. Initially, there was mainly time saving for nurses and nurses, and with more established use, a significant time saving is also considered possible for doctors.
Capacity improvements will be welcome as it is estimated that cognitive disease is currently severely underdiagnosed. Those who are diagnosed receive it in many cases very late in the course of the disease, which means that decisive efforts come later than desirable. In addition to the already growing need for investigation, the Covid-19 pandemic has also brought about a significant pent-up need that needs to be addressed.
More patients with earlier and more accurate diagnoses are considered to be a long-term effect of a digitalized way of working. This will have effects on quality of life, health and well-being for that individual but also on their relatives. In addition, better diagnostics are also judged to have positive effects on costs for health care and society at large. With a digitalized way of working, the conditions for good and close care with high quality are strengthened in an equal way. With the new drug candidates (approved by the FDA and in process at EMA) in Alzheimer's in particular, the ability to diagnose more effectively and precisely will be crucial for the entire area of care "dementia".
The test period has shown that a new digitalized way of working is practicable even if the patient population has been older and many have had a low IT habit.
"The tests are appreciated by the patients and the results are very comprehensive and valuable for the continued assessment," says Carina Stenmark, specialist nurse.
Against this background, Region Värmland has now directly procured Geras Solutions with the aim of enabling a roll-out in the region during 2022 as a next step.
