S3 Connected Health and FutureNeuro, the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Center for chronic and rare neurological diseases (hosted at RCSI - the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland), have partnered on a new epilepsy research project.
FutureNeuro aims to deliver advances in understanding disease initiation and progress. With this understanding, and through industry partnerships, new technologies and solutions for the treatment, diagnosis and monitoring of chronic and rare neurological diseases can be developed.
S3 Connected Health and Future Neuro will work with epilepsy patients, their families and care-partners, healthcare providers, managers, and policy makers to assess the barriers and enablers for adoption of epilepsy-focused digital health solutions.
Using patient journey mapping and behavioral science techniques to gain a deeper understanding of these stakeholders’ experiences will help create new, more adoptable digital health solutions for epilepsy.
Digital health solutions for epilepsy can allow patients to access additional supports for diet, exercise, self-management, and medication adherence. They can also facilitate remote monitoring of patients; allowing them to complete routine appointments remotely and avoiding long travel distances and the associated costs. This results in less-frequent, but more valuable in-person visits with consultants.
This more thorough understanding of the role that technology can have for all parties will lead to development of more personalized healthcare supports and more effective solutions for people with epilepsy.
“The rise of the informed patient and the proper enablement of healthcare and wellness through technology are likely to be the greatest revolution in healthcare in the 21st Century. Physicians must move from being experts that care for patients to enablers that support patients to make decisions. Patients want a partnership with their doctor to use their expertise to help them react to and understand the technologies and to design ways they can work together to build solutions for monitoring both illness and wellbeing.”
Dr. Colin Doherty, Principal Investigator with FutureNeuro, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Neurology at Trinity College Dublin, and National Lead for women’s health in epilepsy
“We are very excited about the multi-disciplinary approach that is being used in FutureNeuro to better understand and treat neurological conditions. Digital health solutions can play an important role in helping patients manage their conditions and give clinicians better insight into the patient experience outside a clinical setting. The understanding gained in this program will provide a strong basis for the creation of tailored digital health solutions across a range of neurological conditions.”
Jim O’Donoghue, President, S3 Connected Health
“The SFI Research Centers bring together the best researchers in academia and companies across Ireland to work on strategic research programs, with the primary objective of delivering significant economic and societal impact to Ireland. I am delighted to see this collaboration between FutureNeuro and S3 Connected Health, which through involving patients with epilepsy in designing their use of technological solutions that are more tailored to their needs, holds the potential to improve their quality of life significantly. Deeper involvement of patients with chronic illnesses in co-designing the effective and efficient delivery of their treatment represents a step forward in modern healthcare, both in Ireland and globally.”
Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland