CASEPLUS-SimPat: An Intersectoral Web-Based Case Management System for Multimorbid Dementia Patients

• Published in: Journal of medical systems 2020-03, Vol.44 (3), p.63-63, Article 63
• Main Authors: Steiner, Bianca, Zippel-Schultz, Bettina, Popa, Andrea, Hellrung, Nils, Szczesny, Stefan, Möller, Claudia, Schultz, Carsten, Haux, Reinhold
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Caregivers - education; Case management; Cognition; Comorbidity; Coordination; Dementia; Dementia - nursing; Dementia disorders; Distance learning; Employee benefits; Health care; Health Informatics; Health Sciences; Humans; Information systems; Internet-Based Intervention; Management; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Occupational health; Outcome Assessment, Health Care; Patient Care Team - organization & administration; Patients; Program Development - methods; Statistics for Life Sciences; Telemedicine - organization & administration; Transactional Processing Systems; Usability
• ISSN: 0148-5598; 1573-689X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10916-020-1533-9

One main challenge of health care systems in future will be the care and treatment of dementia patients. To their advanced age, dementia patients do not only have limitations in cognition, perception, and articulation, but also suffer from several other diseases (multimorbidity). These patients have sophisticated needs for assistance, care, and treatment relying on different health care sectors. Well-known communication and coordination deficits between sectors are intensified in the case of dementia, to the above described limitations. Coordination processes concerning the transition of patients from hospitals to inpatient or outpatient aftercare pose particularly difficult. To show a possible future direction for improving intersectoral care of dementia patients, we developed the web-based case management system CASEPLUS-SimPat as part of the project SimPat “Securing Integrated Care for Multi-morbid Patients with Dementia using an IT-based Service Concept”. CASEPLUS-SimPat allows health care professionals, hospital employees and general practitioners, to jointly access patient data and exchange information about the treatment of patients. The case management system was implemented in a three-tier architecture with a role-based authorization concept. A portal for relatives complements the system. By providing precise information and e-learning services, caring relatives are integrated into the care process. In a pilot test, CASEPLUS-SimPat shows a good usability. Adapting aspects, such as keywords used to structure entries will make it easier to find required information, and thus will increase usability. Next steps comprise integration of further health care professionals and care facilities as well as real-life testing in terms of feasibility and effectiveness.