A three-year RENEWING HEALTH –project has started in the European Union area.
The benefits of telemedicine and Health coaching in treating patients
suffering from long-term illnesses are widely studied in this project.
Almost
8000 patients from nine European countries, each country represented by one
province, will participate in the research study. The Social and Health
District of South Karelia, Eksote, is representing Finland. In Finland, a
total of 400 type 2 diabetes and heart disease patients are recruited to this
project during years 2010 and 2011. The actual study begins in 2011.
The
research patients involved in the project, are provided with measuring device
for domestic use to support managing their self-care, along with the support
from their personal Health coach. The patients are able to record the values
that they have measured at home (e.g. weight, blood pressure), in the data
base by using a mobile phone. They can also see their measuring results in the
data base and their Health coach is able to utilize the results in Health
coaching.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Oy’s subsidiary Preve
Oy is in charge of implementing the Health coaching in the RENEWING HEALTH
–project, as well as all the training and quality control of Health coaching
related to the project. Pfizer has implemented Health coaching by phone
–projects in USA, Great Britain, Italy and Finland. The first Health coaching
project in Finland (TERVA) was implemented in the Päijät-Häme district in
2007; there 1000 patients with long-term illnesses had a personal Health coach.
VTT
Technical Research Centre of Finland has had a significant role in starting of
the RENEWING HEALTH –project in Finland. It provides expertise in health
information management and remote monitoring solutions for Eksote in this
project. VTT is a multi-technological applied research organisation with a
comprehensive international collaboration network. One of VTT’s key focus
areas is on developing solutions that improve health and wellness.
“In
this project six public health nurses or registered nurses will have an
opportunity to be trained for Health coaches. This is the best possible way to
receive EU funding for the development work that supports our strategy. We
anticipate that electronic business will help Eksote to direct our resources
wisely and to improve the customer satisfaction”, says Project manager Tuula
Karhula, acting Service Director in Geriatric Care.
“We
believe that by motivating and teaching people to be more responsible for
managing self-care and providing them with tools to follow-up their own
health, we will be able to take better care in the future of the ever growing
amount of elderly population.”
