“The idea of an online platform arose where the results of a comprehensive newborn audiological examination (RANU) of newborns could be recorded as a way for professionals and parents to access the hearing test result up to school age,” says Lisette Santos, audiologist at the Otolaryngology Service at Garcia Hospital. de Orta. Then, with the support of the company from Leiria, Evollu, in 2020, the study culminated in the Internet platform RANU by Evollu began. It aims to allow “easy, objective and critical consultation to expedite diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The computer program ensures confidentiality of data, and maintains access exclusively to health professionals”, emphasizes Lisette Santos.
category
patient-centered organization
project
RANU Registration Innovation – Online Platform
Establishment
García de Orta Hospital
| Best health results
This project appeared in the scope of Daniela Rodriguez’s master’s thesis at the London School of Economics. Using pseudonymous data from the National Rheumatology Registry (Reuma.pt), Daniela Rodriguez developed a statistical model to assess the extent to which changes in patients’ perceptions of their health correlate with biological therapy and the rheumatology center where they are followed. Among other findings, the analysis revealed that in four of the 26 rheumatology centers, patients reported better health. “These top performing centers deserve further research in order to identify and share good practice,” says Daniela Rodriguez, who is attending a PhD at Imperial College London.
category
Value-based healthcare
project
Evaluation of healthcare in Portugal in the field of chronic diseases based on information reported by patients
Establishment
Garcia da Orta / Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central
| Patient health outcomes
He asserts, “Oncological treatments have physical, psychological, and social implications that significantly reduce patients’ quality of life. In this context, patient-reported outcomes (PRO) play an important role in patient-centered care.” Patricia Redondo, Director of the Results Research Laboratory, at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto. The process involves finding out the patient’s concerns through a questionnaire that allows for a real-time intervention. According to Patrícia Redondo, the integration of PRO into clinical practice in phases and included computer development, implementation of a patient care office dedicated solely to PRO assessment and training of professionals and patients. The quality of life assessment generates a report, detailing dimensions with significant improvements and decreases, and outcomes incorporated into the electronic clinical process.
category
Value-based healthcare
project
PRO – Clinical Practice Support Tool: Organizational Change in a Portuguese General Hospital
Establishment
Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto (IPO-Porto)
| Unified technology control
“One of the most basic hotel operations is to provide bed linen for patients and uniforms for health workers. Due to multiple factors, the decrease in the number of textile items in circulation has made their constant replacement necessary, which means a higher cost,” says André Sardinha, who devised a different system with Joanna Oliveira Duarte and Emdio Castro. Thus, a textile tracking system was established, which includes an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag on every piece of fabric, in acquiring equipment to read and distribute uniforms and in operations management software. Clothing replacement rates increased by 47% In 2020 to 100% in 2021, occupational satisfaction with the new model was 95%, up from 56%.
category
technology adoption
project
Textile Tracking System
Establishment
University Hospital Center Sao Joao
| Mother’s Milk Bank in Porto
“Breast milk is the best food for babies, and in its absence, donated milk is best suited to reduce complications associated with prematurity,” says Henrique Soares, director of the neonatology service at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João. This new human milk bank responds to the needs of at-risk newborns in northern Portugal, as well as the Lisbon Bank that was established 13 years ago. The creation of Banco de Leite Humano do Norte (BLHN) aims to promote breastfeeding and ensure the provision of human milk to the most fragile newborns hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units. The donation process includes a personal consultation/follow-up for the mothers and the donated milk is collected at home and processed according to regulated standards. The investment in BLHN will translate into health gains for donor milk for at-risk children and an enhanced parental role in breastfeeding.
category
Value-based healthcare
project
Northern Human Milk Bank (BLHN)
Establishment
University Hospital Center Sao Joao
| Phone to increase treatments
This project appeared within the scope of Daniela Rodriguez’s master’s thesis at the London School of Economics in Health Policy, Planning and Finance. Using pseudonymous data from the National Rheumatology Registry (Rheuma.pt), Daniela Rodriguez developed a statistical model to assess the extent to which changes in patients’ perceptions of their health correlate with biological therapy and the rheumatology center where they are followed.
Among other findings, the analysis revealed that in four of the 26 rheumatology centers, patients reported better health. “These top performing centers deserve further research in order to identify and share good practice,” says Daniela Rodriguez, who is attending a PhD at Imperial College London.
category
technology adoption
project
Telephone nursing consultation on oral anti-tumor therapies
Establishment
Horta Hospital
| Estefânia support for Angra do Heroísmo
The increasing demand for children with urological diseases and travel restrictions from the Azores to Hospital Dona Estefania (HDE) in Lisbon led Raul Nunes Rodriguez, Director of Urology Service at Hospital Santo Espirito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT),) to start a specific collaboration with this Hospital in Lisbon, through the exchange of impressions about clinical cases and referrals. In October 2019, a cooperation protocol was signed providing for the travel of specialist doctors from the urology unit of HDE to the Angra de Heroísmo Hospital for surgical consultations and interventions. As stated by Raul Rodrigues, seven trips were made, “almost a thousand patients were observed in the consultation, more than 70 patients underwent surgery, the most common diseases being cryptorchidism and hypospadias.”
category
patient-centered organization
project
Pediatric Urology in Terceira Island
Establishment
Santo Espirito Terceira Hospital
