Dr. John Knitza, a leading figure in digital treatment technology in the rheumatology field, gave an interesting lecture when WP5 organized a summer seminar. The theme was about where the research in the digital area stands today and the direction going forward. Inger Jorid Berg and Emily V. Langballe presented exciting Norwegian research in the field.
The WP5 is entitled Innovative Approaches.
ReMonit
Researcher and rheumatologist, Inger Jorid Berg presented the interesting results of the Remonit study. The study shows that both digital home follow -up and patient -controlled follow -up can save health resources, without compromising patient safety or satisfaction.
It can provide more flexible and effective health services for patients with chronic illness. Read more about the results on our website!
Digital home follow -up of patients with interstitial lung disease (fire)
Emily V. Langballe is a specialist in rheumatology and PhD fellow at Oslo University Hospital (OUS), Rikshospitalet.
The research project NOR-SMILDER examines digital home follow-up for patients with fire caused by systemic rheumatic diseases, such as systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, anti-synthesis syndrome and MCTD.
Nor-Smilder is a randomized clinical multi-center study with participants from Norway, Switzerland and Romania. The study compares traditional hospital follow -up with digital home follow -up over one year. The patients are randomly divided into two groups.
The study uses technologies such as Medituns (formerly asthmatuns) to perform breathing tests. The goal is to assess whether digital home follow -up can detect disease deteriorations earlier and more precisely than traditional follow -up.
Rheumatology in the Digital Health Era: Status Quo and Quo Vadis?
Johannes Knitza gave an overall presentation of the status of the rheumatology field and thoughts on the road ahead - based on his recent article in Nature Review Rheumatology. As one of Europe's most influential researchers in digital rheumatology, Knitza heads the development of artificial intelligence and digital tools in patient care.
In the article Rheumatology in the Digital Health Era: Status Quo and Quo Vadis? he states that the rheumatology field is facing a critical shortage of health professionals. An aging patient population brings more with rheumatological diseases and thus increasing costs. This will lead to greater gaps in the health service.
Innovation and clinical practice
He sees that an explosive development in digital health technologies (DHT) over the last five years provides new opportunities to meet these challenges and can contribute to better health services, overall. However, it can be demanding to keep up with innovations and to integrate them into clinical practice.
In the seminar he said that patients in Germany have already had the opportunity for five years to get a prescription for digas, apps that can help them with anxiety, depression, back pain, weight control, etc.
Although studies show that overwhelming 80 percent of patients considered such digital tools as useful and easy to use, he mentioned some challenges.
One of them was related to payment models: The health insurance companies were reluctant to facilitate use. Another challenge was that health professionals were not as oriented about them or had the same belief that this was "good medicine". "It's just an app". A third challenge was that such apps can be so expensive (from 250 to 2000 €) that doctors would not prescribe them. It is also a challenge that patients do not use the apps as intended (Adherence).
"It's Getting there, but Very Slowly," he said.
Digital transformation
Knitza has explored the transformative potential of DHT in rheumatology - how technology can change the entire patient course and redefine the roles of both patients and therapists - and discuss possible obstacles for integrating DHT.
He sees that technologies can be used throughout the patient course. Among other things, it is about large language models, decision support systems, digital treatment tools, electronic patient-reported data, digital biomarkers, robots, self-sampling equipment and artificially intelligence-based note-based note systems.
In the seminar, he pointed out how language models could in many cases provide just as good answers to medical questions as rheumatologists. He gave him several examples of what language models worked and which ones were not as useful.
In his environment, work is being done on developing language models where patient information could not go astray. In this way, you get the opportunity for more personalized and continuous health care through a digital safety net.
He envisions how "digitally first" hybrid process, with step-by-step treatment can combine physical attendance and digital follow-up.
Knitza also came up with the benefits and risks that come with when the traditional relationship between patient and therapist is developed into a "digital health triad" where the technology plays an active role.
- To succeed in this new digital health landscape - and really benefit from the potential of digital health technologies for better rheumatological treatment - collaboration between different professional environments is crucial, he says.
Read the article in PubMed:
Rheumatology in the Digital Health Era: Status Quo and Quo Vadis? - Pubmed
Johannes Knitza, Latika Gupta, Thomas Hügle
Pmid: 39482466 | Doi: 10.1038/s41584-024-01177-7
