Management of congenital heart diseases and digital health – Part 2

United Kingdom has invested around £12.8 billion in a National Program for Information Technology (NPfIT) for the National Health Service

The administration in United States (US) has similarly committed to a US$38 billion eHealth investment in health care. (1)

How Build-a-Care is solving complex digital health problems
To design elements (15)

How digital solutions can help overcome the challenges faced by care providers and patients in management of congenital heart diseases

In part 1 of this article series,  we saw that care providers and patients with congenital heart diseases face a very unique set of problems that need special consideration from healthcare systems. 

Examples of these special considerations include the propensity of CHD patients to have high morbidity and mortality that requires frequent and prolonged contact with healthcare providers. Apart from that, they face challenges in different aspects of physical, mental, social, and economic wellness that requires input from a multidisciplinary team of specialists.

 

 

Investment into digital health

It is estimated that digital health is the next frontier of health and wellness, especially for chronic models of care. Many countries are rapidly moving towards complete digitization of healthcare systems. For example, the United Kingdom has invested around £12.8 billion in a National Program for Information Technology (NPfIT) for the National Health Service, and the administration of United States (US) has similarly committed to a US$38 billion eHealth investment in health care. (1)

 

 

Research outcomes of digital health

Kauw et al.5 reviewed the medical literature and showed that only limited data was available on the use of eHealth applications in CHD patients.(2) 
 
However, the most frequent application of eHealth in monitoring of pediatric patients with congenital heart diseases showed improved outcomes. The research showed that eHealth monitoring helped reduce mortality rate, complications, and improved nutritional status in infants between corrective surgeries. These infants were monitored for body weight and oxygen. (3) 
Video conferencing was also found to have a positive effect on anxiety and healthcare utilization. (2)
Yet another research showed that when adult CHD patients were enrolled in an eHealth program, several clinical advantages were noted. In this cohort, new diagnosis of arrhythmias and hypertension was made hence medical adjustments were required in between clinical visits, which were aided with the eHealth program. Moreover, adherence was >70% in 77% of the patients that started weekly measurements. (3)
 
Challenges in digital health
It can be argued that the impact of digital health can vary in different populations. In a resource limited setting, implementation of digital health is met with systematic barriers such as lack of electronic structural systems. However, even with these challenges, digital health shows enormous promise. (4)
Frontiers of digital health
 
The diversity of data that can now be collected through various personal devices such as mobile phones, smart watches and many more, have allowed unprecedented insights into patient physical and behavioral health. Because of these insights, greater efforts, based on good medical research, can be made to drive the changes that are needed to improve the outcomes.
 
There have been many developments in health technology that have contributed to making clinical and research processes more efficient and outcomes oriented. Perhaps the most significant of all developments has been the incorporation of no-code or low-code applications into healthcare, which has allowed care providers to develop care and research programs on the go. 
 
No code as a digi-health solution
No-code has been hypothesized to solve many of the problems that digital health tech is facing today – most important of them being access to health technology. In terms of access to care providers, no-code provides the solution of empowering care providers to create their own programs without relying on software engineers in around 1/10th of the time it takes to develop a program using traditional coding methods. Apart from that, the benefits to patients are numerous – no-code programs can be used to build personalized programs to meet every patients’ individual needs. This ties in well with the current health movement towards precision medicine. Personalized and outcomes based care will allow care providers to provide value-based care to their patients.
 
Conclusion
Twentieth century medicine has been rife with major technological developments that has led to improved healthcare provision. However, we still have a long way to go in terms of giving individualized care to patients based on their needs and circumstances to truly have a positive impact on health. Using no-code solutions in healthcare will hopefully solve the problems that would allow for better care provision.

Bibliography

1. Black AD, Car J, Pagliari C, Anandan C, Cresswell K, Bokun T, et al. The Impact of eHealth on the Quality and Safety of Health Care: A Systematic Overview. PLOS Med [Internet]. 2011 [cited 2022 Jun 10];8(1):e1000387. Available from: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000387

2. Kauw D, Koole MAC, van Dorth JR, Tulevski II, Somsen GA, Schijven MP, et al. eHealth in patients with congenital heart disease: a review. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther. 2018 Sep 2;16(9):627–34.

3. Schuuring MJ, Kauw D. How to initiate eHealth in congenital heart disease patients? Eur Hear J – Digit Heal [Internet]. 2020 Nov 1 [cited 2022 Jun 9];1(1):83–6. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/ehjdh/article/1/1/83/5999796

4. Digital Health in LLMICs: Current and future technological developments with the potential to improve health outcomes in low-and lower-middle-income countries. [cited 2022 Jun 9]; Available from: www.pathwayscommission.bsg.ox.ac.uk

 

Insights

  • Mental Health Issue
    No-Code Tools for Managing Mental Health and Burnout in Healthcare Settings

    “P4” is a term that is often associated with future of medicine – prediction, prevention, personalization and patient participation. Many current health related technologies have already started moving towards the future and many more innovations are yet to come, that will make the goal of holistic medicine true.

    Read more
  • Impact of health technology on diabetes management

    “P4” is a term that is often associated with future of medicine – prediction, prevention, personalization and patient participation. Many current health related technologies have already started moving towards the future and many more innovations are yet to come, that will make the goal of holistic medicine true.

    Read more