Digitally supported interprofessional communication in care provided at home
Period: October 2022 – December 2023
The care of older people in their own home environment presents various challenges for the professional agents involved from medicine, care and other healthcare professions. Since outpatient care acts as an interface between general practitioners and people requiring care, communication and exchange between the professional agents involved – as the basis of interprofessional collaboration – are very important in the fragmented and heterogeneous care landscape. Communication can be digitally supported at a low threshold. Such solutions can create opportunities to network care providers, simplify communication, and securely provide information relevant to treatment. This would not only make it easier to communicate, but also make significant contribution to providing more targeted care and increasing the safety of patients.
Previous studies have examined the possibilities of digital communication particularly in the acute in-patient setting. Many doctors and nurses are generally interested in expanding digital communication and the telematics infrastructure, but these systems’ susceptibility to errors has so far hindered the successful implementation of such structures. In addition, there has been no consideration of the use of and experiences with digital interprofessional communication options in the outpatient sector. The research project therefore addresses the obstacles to and success criteria for digitally supported interprofessional communication in care at home – taking the town of Kempten as an example (thinking of other regions in Germany) for surveying the perspectives of outpatient care services and general practitioners (together with the other professions working in these medical practices). The project aims to identify critical success factors for effective digitally supported communication as a tool for promoting interprofessional collaboration between GPs and ambulatory care services. The possibilities provided by the existing telematics infrastructure are also taken into account. The results will not only be important in the context of the (further) development or implementation of relevant digital tools in the health sector, but also in terms of educating and training the professions involved.