EU Digital Health Policy and H2020 opportunities: focus on Public Commercial Procurement

18 April, Genova

The EFN, representing 3 million nurses in the EU, is the independent voice of the nursing profession and its mission is to strengthen the status and practice of the profession of nursing for the benefit of the health of the citizens and the interest of nurses in the EU and Europe.

A concrete engagement of frontline nurses is crucial in the development of digital health solutions to ensure that co-designed health technology supports end-users in leading the transition towards an integrated care model.

When developing digital solutions in the health and social care ecosystem, it is key to identify several dimensions that steer an optimal and coherent end-user engagement

We need the end-user engaging in co-creation, making sure the digital/data revolution supports and facilitates the shift towards a resilient health and social care model. The end-user co-designing capacity will be key to transform systems and to make digitalisation deployable, so that the business model sees a return on investment.

Co-Creation

Involving end-users in the development of technology health solutions from the early stage is crucial to guarantee that the developed solution meets real end-user requirements; and to provide usable and engaging interfaces that ensure the system is both efficient and also user-friendly, linking to patients and citizens’ empowerment.

Fit-for-purpose solutions

Trust

Citizen and patient’ trust is a central concept in developing digital tools requiring data sharing, therefore, patients and healthcare professionals are central in the data sharing governance, with the end-users always at the core of the process. In this context, due to the close relation the nurses develop with the patients and their families, and in their coaching roles, frontline is ideally placed to reinforce the existing trust from citizens towards eHealth solutions.

Clinical relevance

A user-centred development approach based on feedback from potential end-users (patients, health and social care professionals) is the only way toward building a final usable system, beneficial for the sustainability of the designed ecosystems. Technology needs to empower and support nurses in data collection, therefore, involving nurses since the start of the co-design process, with specific attention to gender sensitivity, leading to the development of tools able to support women/nurses and allow them to spend more time with patients, so increasing the direct-patient care time.

Testing and measuring outcomes

Another important role played by the end-user relates to their experience in testing, upscaling, deployment strategies and site visits, peer reviews, to really capture the reality and, as such, adjust the development. Evaluating the state of implementation of the proposed solutions from an end-user’s point of view and providing a quantitative and qualitative evaluation will facilitate the producer in developing fit-for-purpose solutions. As example, many health apps exist (over 300.000) but it is difficult to see the relevance if they are not used!

The EFN can contribute to boost the end-user engagement in a consortium thanks to its experience in:

•Recruit Country Experts coordinating specific actions;

•Collecting frontline and gender sensitive data for research;

•Identifying, assessing, and making visible good clinical practices in health services;

•Dissemination and exploitation of results;

•EFN role in EU policy and political discussion;

•Move research finding towards deployment to close the implementation gap.

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