App to help relatives to critically ill patients

In relation to prolonged courses of disease, relatives are at risk at suffering from stress or other serious diseases. Therefore, the aim of the project is to study whether the app may reduce the stress experienced by the relatives.

“It is often the relatives, who are in charge of the practical assignments in relation to a prolonged course of disease,” Innovation consultant at CoLab Odense Malte Kongstad Deleuran says. “The thought is that the app may assist in providing a general view, as all of the information concerning the disease is united. At the same time, the app provides the relatives with the possibility of getting help from family and friends for specific, practical tasks.”

CoLab Odense is collaborating with H.C. Andersen’s Children’s Hospital, who are testing the app for relatives to children in difficult courses of treatment. Because the patient is a child, the network of family and friends, who claim to be updated on the course of the child, is large. Malte Kongstad Deleuran clarifies further: “The advantage of this target group is – besides the network’s ability to provide help with practical tasks – that the information about the child’s course of disease or the daily examination may be distributed to the entire network at the same time.”

Broad test in the works

The app is being tested in CoLabs throughout the entire Region of Southern Denmark. During the project, four CoLabs are collaborating with the company Relabee and four different clinical departments and target groups at the hospitals in the region. “The strength of the CoLab network is that we are able to test technologies across the region and thereby engage various groups of relatives and health professionals. This provides the municipalities and hospitals with knowledge about the values of the app for the the relatives  and through this a way of recommend the app to new target groups,” Mette Damkjær Syse, project manager at CoLab Odense explains.