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Digital home monitoring of children in home-based care leads to positive changes in quality
Advanced Home Hospital Care for Children (AHS) is a program for children under 18 who are admitted to Ahus’s pediatric ward but are stable enough for their parents to take over their care and medication at home, with follow-up from AHS.
- Once they realized how easy it was to get started, many experienced a whole new sense of accomplishment
Lisa Johanne Fosshaug, Section Head, Advanced Home Hospital Care for Children
Lisa Johanne Fosshaug, section head at Ahus’ AHS department, had long wanted to improve and simplify the follow-up process for patients, their families, and the department’s staff.
They had no prior experience with the digitization of healthcare services, but Fosshaug was a strong advocate for exploring what solutions were available.
As a result, a pilot project was launched from July 2019 to June 2021, during which Tellu’s Digital Home Follow-up solution was implemented. SINTEF participated as a research partner, as the project was incorporated into their ongoing “Smart Care” project, with support from the Research Council of Norway.
Fosshaug naturally encountered a lot of skepticism from the staff at the beginning, and that is precisely why one of the most interesting things she noticed was how those who were initially the most skeptical ended up being the most positive about the solution in the end. “We gave the employees time to try it out,” says Fosshaug. “We’re often at work, and sometimes alone, and then you’re kind of thrown into it.”
“Once they learned how easy it was to get started, many experienced a whole new sense of accomplishment.”
A total of 43 patients were followed up, and the results show very positive feedback from both family members and staff. Family members report increased peace of mind and utility, as the child’s vital signs and communication with the hospital are now consolidated into a single app. They have also observed a positive improvement in quality, both in work routines and in a better overview of submitted data.
Data collection has been one of Ahus’s problem areas, and prior to the project, a great deal of time was spent on manual data collection because the existing solutions were cumbersome and inefficient.
To address this, Digital Home Monitoring was introduced.
Tellus DHO consists of the Dialogg patient app, medical sensors, our IoT platform, and an application for healthcare professionals. Measurements are reported automatically through this system, and questions about the user’s health can be answered.
Fosshaug emphasizes that the most important thing for both staff and family members has been how simple the whole process has been.
“User-friendliness has been the be-all and end-all, and it has been essential that the solutions communicate with each other”
“For family members, ‘one click too many’reallyis one click too many. It should be easy to navigate, and it should take very little time.”
That’s why it’s been essential for employees to communicate directly with Tellu and provide feedback throughout the project. “From the start of the project, we’ve had meetings weekly and every other week. This has been a key to success, allowing us to address questions from employees and ensuring that the path to change has been very short,” says Fosshaug about their experience with Tellu as a vendor.
The benefits of DHO have been numerous, and the sense of security and value has been high. Employees have seen a decrease in the number of phone calls and now have a better overview of submitted measurement values, eliminating the need to spend time requesting data. The number of phone calls has decreased, and the exchange of information between family members and the hospital is perceived as more secure and simpler.
“Our input has been valued when it comes to updates and the opportunity to develop the system together, and we’ve felt that we’re a priority. Tellu has been 100% committed to meeting our needs, which has resulted in a very good final product,” says Fosshaug.
Read more about SINTEF’s “Smart Care” project on their website here (Norwegian) .
