The Joint Unit of Information and Communication Technologies Applied to ReEngineering of Social Health Processes (ePRSS) is fruit of the collaboration between the Institute of Applications of Advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ITACA) at Valencia Polytechnic University, and the Institute of Health Research at La Fe Hospital, supported by a total of 17 researchers.
This unit is lead by Doctor Bernardo Valdivieso, Director of Quality Control and Planning for La Fe Department of Health, and Vicente Traver, Professor at Valencia Polytechnic University. Their objective is to develop high-level research in the field of application of information and communication technologies, thereby improving the processes for social health care, and turning the possibilities that these new care models provide into a reality.
Develop the potential of home care and remote patient management through process reengineering and deploymetn of ICT based solutions.
The current line of investigation is designed to boost and improve the quality of care in the home, including the definition of new models and the re-engineering of processes within this field. Also, we are looking to drive development of new care models to facilitate prevention, diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of patients remotely.
With this in mind a platform has been developped for the management of patients, through which sick people under observation or in a home care situation can monitor the state of their health through voice recognition, a mobile phone application or a web application. The professionals entrusted with the follow-up will therefore have continued, detailed and personalised information regarding the health of home care patients at their disposal.
Contribute to the comprehensive management of chronic conditions through new paradigms of health and social care using the advanced capabilities of new technologies
Within the group there is a drive to develop solutions and evaluate the impact of the ‘Integral Management of Prevention’ and the ‘Integral Management of Care of Chronic Conditions’ where said chronic care is relevant: heart failure, palliative care, dementia, cerebrovascular diseases with permanent side effects, chronic lung disease or home respiratory support. In turn, we aim to contribute to the improvement of efficiency of care processes and to the control of costs for health services.
As part of the European projects HeartCycle and Metabo, we continue to work on a new model for management of chronicity, aiming towards continual assistance and integration of services for patients with heart failure or diabetes, respectively.
Improve the dissemination of reliable health information taking advantage of new technologies
The aim here is to boost the role and responsibility of the patient and his/her environment, in relation to the management and improvement of health, through tools which foment and facilitate self-care and response capacity.
European Projects such as PREVE have analysed the behavioural aspects associated to risk factors and illness prevention. Patient empowerment is achieved when he/she takes an active role in healthcare, for example, in the process of self-evaluation for post-operatory patient follow-up in Major Outpatient Surgery.
Improve the integration of preservation in the healthcare processses, enhancing the capabilities of people to take more responsible role in their own health
In this field we aim to push development of communication and information sharing tools based on new web 2.0 technologies to give support to various communities within the health sphere.
The Salupedia project, developped internally, has created a community of users where health professionals recommend content already existing on the web to patients, family members and the general public.
Define, develop and study the new “smart environments” in sociosanitary attention
The group aims to drive and amplify new intelligent environments for health and well-being, combining the latest developments in personalised medicine and information and communication technologies.
With management of chronicity, we have undertaken a validation process where real users operate intelligent devices for follow-up of chronic patients, enabling us to establish a Smart Environment for healthcare in the patient’s home.
