OK patients recover with the application five days faster

Patients resume normal activities five days earlier after surgery when they receive eHealth support through the "I Restore" app. They also achieve better results in the field of social participation and physical functioning, return to work sooner and are more satisfied with the form of care they receive than patients who received standardized recovery advice via a website

The application is personalized: the patient can indicate the eight activities to resume before recovery. Han Anema, a professor of social medicine and co-developer of the application, explains: "Patients receive guidance on resuming activities important to them. They also get an overview via the app on whether the recovery is proceeding as expected and is boosted with an activity counter to work on the recovery itself. Finally, the application provides patients with information on the operation, common complaints and recovery. "

More and more quickly go home

The research group developed the application because patients leave the hospital quickly and quickly." When patients received care and treatment information to the hospital for a few days, they are now at home the same day, but seem to be insufficiently informed of the cure, "says Judith Huirne, professor of gynecology, VUmc." As a result, recovery after surgery took longer than expected from a medical point of view "

The study involved 344 patients who underwent gallbladder surgery, inguinal hernia surgery or ovarian surgery. half of them used the Ikherstel application, the other half had access to a website with standard recovery tips in addition to the usual care.The results were published on June 21 in the leading scientific journal The Lancet. Researchers are currently working to make ehealth intervention accessible to patients outside of this research.