One of the EU Health Strategy’s concrete themes includes „empowering citizens – putting patients at the heart of the system and encouraging them to be involved in managing their own healthcare needs“. Preventive care should therefore not be left alone to doctors and hospitals, also the individual must be empowered and become a „smart patient“. Objectives of the project • empower citizens to become expert patents and develop self-confidence and patients competence; • develop practice oriented support that empowers them preventing disease and detecting health issues at an early stage that are essential to living a healthy life; • develop internet and mobile application tools for preventive care; • provide a low level threshold glossary for readers with lower educational levels; • include refugees and migrants through translations of the materials into Arabic and Pashtun. The consortium comprises 8 partners: 1. University of Rijeka, Dept. for Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine (HR), training future health professionals in the mental health community psychiatry; 2. Health Promotion Research Centre at National University of Ireland (IE), active in development of best practice and policy in promotion of health; 3. The organisation „Was hab ich?“ (DE) provides an online portal with free of charge translations of medical reports and hospital discharge summaries into simple language; 4. School of Allied Health Technologies (PT), focusing on research for the provision of community services; 5. INTEGRA Institute for Development of Human Potentials (SI) focuses on counselling services, special pedagogy, and psychology: 6. WIN – Science Initiative (AT) with experience in the design of learning and information materials for ICT communication in virtual environments; 7. QUALED Qualification and Education (SK), active in field of innovative learning technologies; 8. GUNET- AKADIMAIKO DIADIKTYO (GR), expert for development of advanced ICT services and applications in teaching and learning and providing e-learning services through the learning management system OPENeCLASS. Activities: • Framework Analysis with focus group meetings • Development of intellectual outputs (Needs assessment report, tools, online platform, mobile apps) • Testing phase in collaboration with health & migrant organisations • Dissemination activities, multiplier events • 5 transnational meetings Methodology Our project empowers citizens to acquire health literacy, and to understand that health cannot be maintained only by medical intervention, but depends also on lifestyle as well as on social and environmental factors. The design of the learning materials takes into consideration the educational level of disadvantaged learners and responds to the current refugees’ situation by providing selected materials in two widely used languages of refugees, Arabic and Pashtun. Target groups and stakeholders will be included to assess the outcomes of the project. Pilot testing and implementation will guarantee the successful development, and the products will be localized and adapted to partners’ countries. Results and impact • Smart Patient Tools: awareness raising, guidance and information materials that empower citizens preventing disease and detecting health issues at an early stage; • Online Platform containing the tools and a forum with Skype real time translation; • Mobile Smart Patient Apps as virtual information and learning environment • Website, newsletters, flyers: • Quality management plan, evaluation report Impact on the target group: increased sense of initiative for their health; increased level of digital competence; more active participation in society; increased opportunities for professional development through a healthier lifestyle. It is expected that by the end of the project more than 7500 EU citizens will interact with the Smart Patients platform and tools. Impact on stakeholders Smart Patients as effective way of delivering health initiatives and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Sustainability Critical aspect for securing sustainability is the extended networks of partners which consist of more than 1500 organizations, the vast majority of which are employed in the fields of health care provision and management, training, e-learning, and ICT. It has been ensured during the proposal preparation phase that they will integrate the Smart Patients platform in their normal training, communication and promotion activities in the field of health care education, lifelong skills capacity building, training and educational ICT. The Sustainability Strategy will list specific approaches and actions in order to reach both decision-makers and individual end-users, involve them in the project and convince them about the value and relevance of its results. Case studies of successful implementation of Smart Patients will be show-cased in order to convince more stakeholders to utilize project products and results.
Health literacy ranks among the most important issues of today. In an effort to develop person centered medicine, the role of a patient has changed and patients are now considered to be equal partners in all activities concerning health. Although today one can find numerous information on health topics, those information are often not user friendly. There is a lack of material, especially for adults with low educational level. Moreover, no adequate health information exists for the needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. One of the EU Health Strategy’s main objectives is „empowering citizens – putting patients at the heart of the system and encouraging them to be involved in managing their own healthcare needs“. An individual must be empowered and become a „smart patient“. Our project addresses an important topic of non-formal education. The design of the learning materials takes into consideration not only the educational level of disadvantaged learners, but it also responds to the current refugees’ crisis in Europe, by providing selected materials in the two most widely used languages of refugees, i.e. Arabic and Pashto. The objectives of this project were: • to empower citizens to become expert patents and to develop and self-confidence and patients competence in interaction with medical experts • to develop practice oriented support that empowers them preventing disease and detecting health issues at an early stage that are essential to living a healthy life • understand their own contribution to recovery as a necessary complement, rather than compete with the achievements of medicine • to develop internet and mobile application basic tools with recommendations, tips and guidelines for preventive care, healthy nutrition and food, wellbeing (e.g. stress management), lifestyle (e.g. how to care for family members with chronic diseases) • to provide a low level threshold glossary (translation resp. explanation of medical terms for readers with lower educational levels) • to include refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who have no or only little command of the host country’s language, and would not understand the information given to them by doctors, through translations of the materials also into Arabic and Pashto. The consortium consisted of 8 partners from 8 different EU countries; partners come from a wide range of backgrounds including medical institutions, training centres, family care centres, research and development centres, and SMEs. To attain the objectives the consortium undertook several activities. The first one consisted on the State of the Art. Here partners collected information about the gap in health information available. Results also provided information about eLearning and adequate pedagogies to be used with the target of this project. An E-learning platform and mobile app were developed consisting of 15 modules, all grouped in three sections: prevent, empower, participate. All modules followed the latest pedagogical developments concerning eLearning and are therefore interactive; have videos, games, check lists, quizzes, and a final self-evaluation test. The platform also has a forum so all users can interact. All models were tested and validated and suggestions and comments were incorporated. A web portal app was also developed with all information on the project activities. Dissemination activities were also organized. Each partner organized national seminars to present the results of the project and involve the target group. Additionally, partners organized other dissemination events or participated in seminars and conferences presenting the project. News were published in journals, newspapers, and on websites. Three newsletters were produced and sent all over Europe. The main results are: The Smart Patients Online Platform (e.g. www.smart-patients.eu) and mobile app that contain 15 submodules - tools that are essential to living a healthy life in all languages of the partnership, and in Arabic and Pashto. Modules are structured in the interactive way, using simple terms and giving basic information on ways how to play an active role in maintaining own health or being an user of a health system. Users can find some useful and self-assessment tools that could help in facing the health problems and can get additional information through interactive tools. In Europe, still recovering from the crisis and dealing with the problem of migrants and refugees, this project can also be used as a useful tool to help these people to face health needs within a new context. The learning material organized in an easy and user friendly will help users to undertake and understand preventive measures, to be active in a patient role if that happens, and to become responsible and active participant in own healing process and in maintaining the quality of life despite disadvantages. Modules can be used as educational material as well.