Experts Find Better Treatment Methods For Kidney Disease Patients
Aalto University researchers are participants in a four-year research project, which will examine patient-centered home dialysis treatment options for kidney disease patients. The project’s goal is to develop an electronic health service for patients and professionals, which would make the day-to-day life of patients easier and update treatment options. The multidisciplinary project is funded by the Academy of Finland and was launched in September 2022. Aalto is joined by HUS Helsinki University Hospital, University of Jyväskylä and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
‘The severe loss of kidney function is a major healthcare challenge. Current treatment options include organ transplants or dialysis,’ says nefrologist Virpi Rauta from HUS, who is the development manager for the project. ‘Organ transplant is the optimal treatment method for a late-stage disease, but it’s not feasible for many patients.’
Typically, kidney disease patients are treated with dialysis at a central care unit. However, in Finland a quarter of patients received dialysis treatment in their homes.
‘Home dialysis treatment enables a better quality of life for patients and a better prognosis. It’s also the most cost-efficient treatment option. The role of home dialysis as a treatment option should be increased considerably,’ says Rauta.
Dialysis is essential, life-supporting treatment, in which the various equipment and electronic services play a significant role. Options for making home dialyses easier for patients and professionals are urgently needed.
User-friendly electronic services can help patients and professionals
Assistant Professor Johanna Viitanen’s research group at Aalto University’s Department of Computer Science is focused on human-centred health informatics, or how digital health services could better take into account user experiences of patients and professionals. Viitanen’s research group’s role in the research project is to investigate how electronic services could be utilized to help the work of professionals and the experiences of patients during home dialysis treatments. The research will focus on the usability and user experience.
‘The challenge is to take into account the usability and user experience of both professionals and patients when designing the service – especially patients have numerous ways of using these sorts of services,’ says Viitanen. ‘User experience is no longer just a nice add-on, but a critical factor with bearings on the wellbeing, efficiency and motivation of healthcare professionals.’
The research group will employ user-centered planning methods, such as interviews with patients and professionals, usability tests and co-planning workshops. Their goal is to get 10 healthcare professionals and 25 patients to participate in the research. The researchers are optimistic that the multidisciplinary approach will unlock fresh thinking and hence succeed in developing novel solutions to the multifaceted challenges.
‘Supporting patient wellbeing and self-management is a complex process. It is not enough to uncover the most effective behavior change techniques, but they need to be delivered in the best way possible. This requires understanding of the context, including patient experiences, patient-provider interactions, and the role of electronic health solutions embedded in the treatment pathway,’ say Project Researcher Malina Ekholm and Assistant Professor Keegan Knittle from the University of Jyväskylä.
The project continues the work done in an earlier research project called eCare4Me. Researchers developed a first version of the electronic health service for home dialysis in the project, in close collaboration with patients and professionals. During spring and summer 2023, the current project will undergo an ethical evaluation at HUS, after which the consortium members can begin collecting research material.