Stakeholder Workshop of the Fraunhofer Center for Digital Diagnostics
Fraunhofer ZDD® | Recognizing needs – shaping transformation: Digitization still holds trump cards up its sleeve for improving the healthcare system, which could even alleviate the shortage of skilled workers and the questionable care in rural areas. The Fraunhofer Center for Digital Diagnostics – an initiative funded by the federal government and the state of Brandenburg – has set itself the goal of developing sustainable solutions that exploit today’s and tomorrow’s digital possibilities. The state of Brandenburg serves as a model region for this.
On July 7, 2023, the Fraunhofer ZDD® invited to a workshop at the Fraunhofer Conference Center in Potsdam to identify starting points for improving health care in rural areas. In particular, it was discussed how patient-oriented diagnostics and their integration into digital ecosystems can help to counteract the shortage of skilled workers and improve the quality of medical care in rural areas.
Last Friday, around 100 guests from the healthcare sector, politics and business discussed the development of such a “digital diagnostics” in Germany. From self-tests to professional diagnostics to the digital networking of health data: How can wearables support diagnostics? How can digital assistance systems support people in need of care in everyday life? How can health data be used beyond different systems and how can this data be protected?
After a welcome by Dr. Eva Ehrentreich-Förster, come. Dr. Ullrich Stein, Managing Director of Fraunhofer ZDD,® gave an introduction to the current status of the young Fraunhofer Center. Dr. Theresa Ahrens then presented a needs analysis that had been launched in advance, which correlated the needs and attitudes of users and patients as well as providers of diagnostic and digital health solutions. With this gain in knowledge, four topic and discussion islands were opened, in each of which urgent wishes were compared with new solutions that could improve our health system and patient care in the long term.
Three thematic islands encompassed various design options for patient-oriented diagnostics:
- »Wearables and Ambient-Assisted Living« – How can sensors on the body or in the living environment provide important data about the state of health and the need for care or treatment?
- “On-site testing” – How can self-tests avoid unnecessary visits to the doctor and hospitalizations on the one hand and ensure faster appropriate care on the other?
- »Professional Testing« – how can comprehensive diagnostics directly in the doctor’s office support faster informed decisions, support teleconsultation with specialists and avoid repeated visits to the doctor?
- At the “Data Management” theme island, the security of health data and the causes and avoidance of data breaches were discussed.
In each case, hypotheses for solving the known challenges were tested for their conclusiveness, feasibility and acceptance. The overall tenor of the workshop was that digital diagnostics will improve cost and resource efficiency and thus increase the quality of life of patients and healthcare professionals.
Impressionen der Veranstaltung und Pressemitteilung
Kontakt
Dr. Ullrich Stein
Leiter der Geschäftsstelle Fraunhofer-Zentrum für Digitale Diagnostik
Fraunhofer-Institut für Zelltherapie und Immunologie IZI, Institutsteil Bioanalytik und Bioprozesse IZI-BB
Am Mühlenberg 13
14476 Potsdam
Details hier
Photo credit: At the stakeholder workshop of the Fraunhofer Center for Digital Diagnostics, Dr. Ullrich Stein introduced the event and Dr. Theresa Ahrens presented the ongoing needs analysis. © Fraunhofer IZI-BB/Photo: Sarah Dölle