In de maand oktober gonst het van de E-health activiteiten en IPPZ laat natuurlijk ook van zich horen.

Tijdens de First E-Mental Health Summit worden de meest recente evidence-based ontwikkelingen, onderzoeken en implementatieprojecten op het terrein van e-mental health gepresenteerd door vooraanstaande internationale experts. Belangrijke thema's tijdens het congres zijn: het vergroten van therapietrouw en het vergroten van het bereik van kosten-effectieve preventie en behandeling via het internet.

Onder de titel 'E-health as innovation of clinical practice in psychiatry' geeft Frank Kraaijeveld een workshop over e-health bij complexe psychiatrische stoornissen. Hij presenteert de resultaten van een pilot bij de Symfora groep en bespreekt het belang van integratie van online en face-to-face behandeling en de rol van patiëntenportals hierbij.

Theme
This pilot aims to develop integrated online/face-to-face treatment strategies for complex or multiple psychiatric disorders.
Objective
Development of a webbased portal for psychoeducation, diagnostics, treatment and monitoring.

Method
A group of IT-specialists, caregivers and administrators analyzed the requirements for an e-health application. Rapid-prototyping and early user evaluation were used design the software. ‘MySymfora’ is implemented within treatment programs for anxiety, eating and personality disorders. Application and changing work processes were evaluated  for future developments.

Results
A webbased portal for patients, caregivers and management is implemented in three departments of a psychiatric hospital. Main functions: psychoeducation, diary entries, monitoring of treatment variables, secure e-mail, forum. In a 9 month period 58 patients and 18 caregivers used the portal. More than 84% of them qualified the usability of the portal as positive. Knowledge on themes as security, privacy, legal aspects of e-health grows. The Psychiatric hospital decided to invest in further development and wider use of the portal among other departments.

Conclusions
Feedback from the patients and caregivers gives support for further development of the portal. Analysis of the results shows that several factors influence succes/failure of the e-health implementation: management support, design of workprocesses and tasks, and the presence of a ‘change agent’. The management staff of two programs decided to expand e-health activities from start to end of treatment. Financial aspects of e-health activities,  development of training programs and online treatment resources require attention in de future.

Drs. J.F. Kraaijeveld, Msc
L. de Jong