Workshop for patients in the University Medical Centre Maribor

– University Medical Centre Maribor

With the start of the PERSIST clinical trial this month, the University Medical Centre Maribor with help of consortium partner Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the University of Maribor (UM), organized the first workshop for the patients in the big lecture hall in the Department of Oncology. Overall 12 patients were included in the workshop, divided into two groups of 6 for the reasons of safety.

The patients were made familiar to the PERSIST application and smart band, which will be used and assessed during the clinical trial. Lead researcher dr. Matej Horvat with the help of project office staff,  Mrs. Doroteja Batorek and mag. Maja Molan and dr. Izidor Mlakar from UM, presented the application and the smart band, as well as the importance of project PERSIST for a future post-cancer improvement of quality of life for survivors. Mrs. Batorek and mag. Molan explained the project cycle and helped with the registration of patients in the PERSIST mHealth CLinitian app. Further dr. Mlakar explained the IT component behind the application.

The process continued with registration in the Patients’ application on received SmartPhone and connecting with the smart band. Presenters helped the participants get acquainted with the system of applications and key functionalities. Patients’ opinions were positive when they checked the operation of key interfaces and made the first overall assessment of the application, as part of the co-creation.

‘What we (clinicians) are missing is an insight into how you (survivors) live and what issues you experience every day. With your help and effort, we will create a foundation, not only for your but towards more personalized healthcare.’, said Dr. Horvat, lead researcher at theUniversity Medical Centre Maribor.

Dr. Izidor Mlakar from the University of Maribor added, ‘we want to create a tool that will serve you and help you as non-intrusively as possible. Please bear with us and use the application and give us as much positive and negative feedback as possible. The tool makes sense only if you are willing to use it.’

The workshop set a good practice for futute recruitments, as the participants accepted the application and the smart band very positively and their questions were beneficial for all. Their feedbacks also served as a tool for in improving the presentation for future groups of patients.