"A virtual doctor will take charge of some of the care of heart failure"

Researchers in the field of heart failure will work on a digital application that can make independent remote decisions, such as prescribing drugs and providing medical advice. The UMC + Maastricht and a number of international partners receive a total of more than 4.5 million euros in European grants to develop the system. At the end of the project (after 3.5 years), the first prototype must be operational. Dr. Hans-Peter Brunner-La Rocca, Project Manager and Cardiologist, is convinced that such forms of eHealth can in the future provide an answer to the ever-increasing demand for care and costs.

The Virtual Nurse Molly

] This month, the current version of a virtual nurse called Molly is being implemented structurally in the heart failure care system from Maastricht. Molly is a so-called avatar care and focuses on monitoring patients who also provide medical information. At any time, a "real" nurse always reviews the data remotely. Research has shown that this type of care is effective: the number of visits to the hospital has decreased and patients feel comfortable. But to face future challenges, researchers want to go further and allow the patient to heal.

Long-Term Vision

"If we continue in this direction, we will no longer be able to provide quality care that health professionals expect from professionals," said Brunner-La Rocca "While the demand for care is growing, care needs to be cheaper but with quality and safety, and the development of new treatments is costly, so that health care remains affordable and retains its capacity for innovation. a long-term vision very different from today's. "The cardiology professor sees this solution as a solution for eHealth applications, such as Molly. But where Molly currently monitors and provides information, a new version must be able to do much more and be able to advise patients on treatment, diagnose and prescribe medication.

Prerequisites

Leaving the project to succeed, different prerequisites must be taken into account. For example, the virtual physician must self-learn and be able to adapt to situations. The application must also be user-friendly and stimulating for all target groups, regardless of their level of education, age and gender. Legally and ethically, there are also problems that require an answer. For example, who is responsible if something is wrong with health care? At the end of the project, the virtual doctor must make decisions that are entirely medically responsible. "When in doubt, there will always be a reference to a health care provider," said Brunner-La Rocca. "Now the application is developed specifically for the care of heart failure, but in theory, it can also be used for other specialties, so that we can eventually make health care more effective as a whole. "

The project will be implemented by many within 3.5 years. Institutions of knowledge with the cooperation of serious game specialists, artificial intelligence and remote monitoring.