The RECONNECT network: New websites and seminar
The network for decentralized studies in HSØ launches new websites and invites to its first seminar, Monday 25 November. The seminar requires registration.
In the picture, Anne Therese Tveter, Tuva Moseng and Marie Skovli Pettersen
Websites
The websites will be a central source of information for everyone working with decentralized clinical studies in Health South-East, with updates on activities, seminars and access to useful resources.
Seminar 25 November
The program includes presentations from Helse Sør-Öst on innovation and how to make medical equipment available.
Experiences in getting medical apps onto the market are the starting point for the panel discussion: How should we avoid the "pilot graveyard"?
The seminar begins before lunch with RECONNECT's status and future plans.
The seminar is free, but requires registration by 15 November. For more information about the program and registration, see the websites at RECONNECT-nettwerk.no: RECONNECT-seminar 25 November: "How to avoid the pilot cemetery?"
About RECONNECT
RECONNECT is led by postdoctoral fellow Tuva Moseng at Diakonhjemmet hospital. The aim is to make clinical studies more accessible to patients through decentralized solutions and collaboration across institutions. The network is supported by Helse Sør-Öst and brings together experts from a number of hospitals and research environments. Decentralized solutions mean various elements in a study which means that the participants do not need to travel to a hospital or study centre, but can participate in the study from home. Examples of this could be solutions for digital consents and data collection or follow-up and treatment delivered through mobile apps.
- RECONNECT has been established to gather experience and increase knowledge about studies with decentralized elements among researchers. If more clinical studies use decentralized elements, this can help make clinical studies more accessible to more patients, reduce the travel burden and utilize resources more efficiently, explains Moseng.
The network is linked to work package 5 in REMEDY, the research center for treatment in rheumatology and musculoskeletal diseases. Central to this work package are innovative approaches to decentralized treatment.
Interdisciplinary collaboration and broad participation
RECONNECT is an interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups in Health South-East, including Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo University Hospital (OUS), Akershus University Hospital (Ahus), Vestre Viken, Innlandet Hospital, Østfold Hospital and Sørlandet Hospital. The network also has Sykehusapotekene HF, which plays a central role in the work package for drug management.
Professor Anne Therese Tveter, who is the initiator of the network, emphasizes the importance of the broad collaboration:
- By gathering knowledge from different professional environments and experiences from different studies, we can solve challenges that the decentralization of clinical studies brings with it. It is important to share experiences on everything from digital data collection to drug handling.
Marie Skovli Pettersen is an adviser to the network and is responsible for collecting and disseminating the knowledge from the various work packages. She says that it is about making research more accessible, both for researchers and patients.
- We want to make it easier to share experiences and build expertise to increase the use of decentralized elements in clinical studies in Norway, says Pettersen.
The way forward for RECONNECT
The network is still in an early phase, but the work has already begun to map existing digital solutions, medical equipment and the legislation surrounding drug handling in decentralized studies. One of the goals is to develop a digital toolbox that can support researchers when choosing a method for data collection.
- We hope that our network, which gathers experience from studies with decentralized elements, will become an important resource for researchers throughout the region, says Pettersen.
How can the network contribute to better research? A concrete example
Researchers spend a lot of time finding a digital solution for data collection that meets all the needs of the study.
- One system may have functions that work well for one patient group, but be unsuitable for another. There is no universal system that can meet all needs, explains Pettersen.
She refers to an example from a work package meeting, where the project manager talked about the challenges of evaluating several different solutions before they found a system that suited the project. One of the alternatives they considered had almost all the necessary functions, but was only approved for use in another region and therefore could not be used in the project.
Project managers often have to spend a lot of time familiarizing themselves with different systems for digital data collection before they can decide whether they meet their needs.
- When they have to thoroughly consider many options, it becomes an extra time-consuming process in the start-up phase. It is challenging, as you want to get started with the study quickly, says Pettersen. - When we gather an overview of which systems exist and which functions they offer, the researchers will be able to find a suitable solution in a more efficient way, she adds.
Future events
Events that are relevant to the network are published on the websites. Be it courses, seminars and meetings in the work packages.
If you run decentralized clinical studies in Health South-East, the websites will therefore become an increasingly important channel for information that is relevant.
- The quality of the websites depends on everyone in the network contributing the information we request, explains network leader Tuva Moseng.
