Digitally Enabled Health Service for the Integrated Management of Hypertension: A Participatory User-Centred Design Process.

Vincenzo De Luca,Vanja Lazic,Marie Holm Sherman,Maria Triassi,Strahil Birov,Antonija Balenovic,Raffaele Izzo,Guido Iaccarino,Maddalena Illario,Ozan Beyhan,Marcello Melgara,Mikael Lilja,Gianfranco Parati,Klaus Piesche,Martino Francesco Pengo

doi:10.3390/ijerph182312442

Abstract

This article describes a user-centred approach taken by a group of five procurers to set specifications for the procurement of value-based research and development services for IT-supported integrated hypertension management. The approach considered the unmet needs of patients and health systems of the involved regions. The procurers established a framework for requirements and a solution design consisting of nine building blocks, divided into three domains: service delivery, devices and integration, and health care organisation. The approach included the development of questionnaires, capturing patients’ and professionals’ views on possible system functionalities, and a template collecting information about the organisation of healthcare, professionals involved and existing IT systems at the procurers’ premises. A total of 28 patients diagnosed with hypertension and 26 professionals were interviewed. The interviewees identified 98 functional requirements, grouped in the nine building blocks. A total of nine use cases and their corresponding process models were defined by the procurers’ working group. As result, a digitally enabled integrated approach to hypertension has been designed to allow citizens to learn how to prevent the development of hypertension and lead a healthy lifestyle, and to receive comprehensive, individualised treatment in close collaboration with healthcare professionals.

Highlights

The aging population and the burden of growing non-communicable chronic diseases have increased the demand for health, social, and informal care services [1]
A total of 28 patients diagnosed with hypertension representing four and December 2019
Hypertension is a highly prevalent disease, and relatively easy ease to treat, it shows heterogeneous outcomes that are influenced by educational background, ethnicity, and age that, for example, can hinder access to primary care [29]. mHealth solutions such as HSMonitor can play a crucial role in addressing some of these inequalities, providing the opportunity for remote management and telemonitoring that have already proved effective for such patients

Summary

Introduction

The aging population and the burden of growing non-communicable chronic diseases have increased the demand for health, social, and informal care services [1]. Addressing the needs of an ageing population translates into supporting independent living at home, self-management of age-related conditions and the reduction of isolation Such a proactive, user-centred system requires citizens to take greater responsibility for their health and well-being, by providing information on their health status and adherence to healthy lifestyles in order to stay active and healthy as long as possible [8]. It is widely recognised that health care systems must shift from reactive disease management to health promotion and disease prevention, from a focus on disease to a focus on an individual’s wellbeing, and from fragmentation to integration of services along the continuum of care [13] This shift can be supported by an ever-increasing volume of health data.

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