Ella lives in a rural community in Eastern Saxony, Germany, which is characterised by an aging population (including aging health care professionals). The distances to visit medical specialists are considerable. Ella is employed in the administrative body of the community she lives in as head of digital healthcare innovations, including telemedicine. Telemedicine for Ella means the delivery of healthcare and/or medical education by a health professional over a distance using information and communication technology. Ella’s grandmother, Ruth, lives in the same community. Due to Ruth’s chronic conditions (hypertension, diabetes), Ella is concerned about the decreasing number of medical specialists and is aiming to introduce new solutions improving healthcare delivery in her community. Ella is open-minded and likes working with new and innovative solutions.
Internet usage
Mobile device skills
Affinity to new tech
Digital Health Literacy
Assistance (ICT use)
What's important to Ella
– Improving healthcare delivery in the community (ageing population)
– Promoting telemedicine and digital health solutions
– Ensuring data security and privacy
– Introducing users to new assistive technologies
– Using her work to benefit her grandmother, who lives in the same community
Health concerns
– Is generally fit and well
– Regularly visits her GP for standard or preventive checks
– Experienced difficulties with the care system following an incident with sepsis last year
Working life
– Has strengths which are planning and organising
– Tries to stay up-to-date with technological advances
– Is a member of the digital health working group in the German Society for Computer Science
– Facilitates active community participation across all sectors of health and care provision
Personal life
– Has her dream job and her free time is often spent on job-related activities or doing sports
– Attends science slams and networking events
– Listens to podcasts related to her field of work
Education
– Studied health communication at university
– Tries to stay up-to-date regarding new innovations, regulations (financial, legislative), interoperability etc.
– Attends additional certified training sessions as well as workshops to stay informed
Employment concerns
– Lack of appropriate professional community
– Frustration that other stakeholders don’t always see the full benefits of digital health solutions
– Lack of support from other stakeholders who sometimes block the community co-operation required for her initiatives to succeed
Multi-disciplinary team concerns
– Older health professionals are reluctant to change
– The decreasing number of specialists: changes in care delivery are needed
– Health professionals are worried about data privacy, security and financial issues
– No training in telemedicine use is available for health professionals
Needs
(1) Easier ways of staying up-to-date in her rural community as most relevant events take place in a city 100km away.
(2) A common platform for her network to ensure an appropriate supportive community either locally or online.
(3) Guidelines on how to promote telemedicine.
(4) More training on telemedicine use for members of her community: improved knowledge would help convince them of
telemedicine’s importance and ensure that they can use it.
(5) Help to simplify the health system’s complexity, such as different financial/ legal regulations and many institutional contact points that are continuously changing.
Developed by
Lena Otto, TU Dresden
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