Hematological patients in Italy now have access to “Alliance”, a web platform designed by Gimema that allows direct contact with their specialist
Ensure timely and safe communication between doctor and patient; encourage careful monitoring of symptoms and therefore provide more personalized assistance based on the real needs of sick people. These are the objectives of Gimema-Alliance, a platform that digitizes healthcare for haematological patients in Italy conceived and created by the Gimema Foundation (Italian group of adult hematological diseases), in collaboration with the academic society Esd. Its development process was recently published in the scientific journal Jmir- Research Protocols .
The portal of doctors
Covid-19 proved it beyond a reasonable doubt: digital health technologies, in particular telemedicine, are a precious ally for doctors and patients in order to guarantee continuity of care. «Scientific evidence is starting to accumulate but it is still insufficient in the hematology field, so we still have a lot of work to do to produce studies and research on the impact of digital health in hematology patients. However, there is no doubt that these approaches are extremely helpful in clinical practice “, underlines a Marco Vignettipresident of the Gimema Foundation. The Alliance platform consists of two web portals (also on apps) communicating with each other: one dedicated to patients and the other to doctors. The latter can only be used in the blood centers designated by the director of the participating center, which access it through a specific link with a personal username and password. Instead, all patients who meet the inclusion criteria, after signing an informed consent, can be registered on the portal of the doctor who requests them and providing them with their respective credentials.
And that of patients
The patient portal contains a questionnaire called Alliance survey with some questions about specific symptoms, adherence to treatment, frequency and intensity of symptoms and therapy-related toxicities, as well as questions about one’s quality of life. Based on a predefined algorithm, for example, if the patient’s responses indicate a potentially relevant problem, the platform automatically sends alert messages to the haematologist via e-mail. who in a short time can then decide what to do. If necessary, for example, he can contact the patient for a video-consultation or for a check-up in presence.
Control of symptoms
In addition to communicating with their haematologist at any time, the patient can check the course of your symptoms over time thanks to an easy-to-use interface, which shows simple summary graphs about your health status. “This process allows for greater responsibility and participation of the patient, making him the protagonist of the treatment process”, adds Fabio Efficace, head of the Gimema Foundation’s Quality of Life unit. Till today, Alliance is active in over 20 Italian blood centers and has enabled some 80 hematologists to monitor more than 400 patients with blood cancer.
March 12, 2022 (change March 12, 2022 | 19:11)
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