Table 4 Activities of the implementation guide for digital care platforms in combination with the strategy
Phase of implementation | Strategy |
|---|---|
Development innovation | |
 Formulate clear goal, vision, focus, and strategy | Innovation optimizing strategy |
 Establish a clear organisational and governance structure | |
 Create a clear overview of IT-system architecture | |
 Make data infrastructure and data flow transparent | |
 Ensure that the innovation complies with regulations regarding data security and privacy | |
 Set a clear business case | |
 Set a change plan and/or continuously adjust innovation based on change plan | |
 Give platform/apps appropriate name(s) | |
 Involve key stakeholders from the start during development of the innovation | Product focussed strategy |
 Work intensively with end users on content, design, further development/improvement of the innovation | Innovation optimizing and product focussed strategy |
 Work on (further) development via short cyclical improvement, e.g. the so-called plan do check act cycle | |
 In the (further) development of the innovation, take diversity of patients into account | |
 Get the technical aspects in order and set up structure for solving bugs | |
 Minimize the number of different IT parties involved | Innovation optimizing strategy |
 Make concrete agreements with IT party(ies) about responsibility for updates and security | Cooperation promoting strategy |
 Involve IT/privacy officer continuously in the design, further development and improvement of the innovation | |
 Explore (cost-)effectiveness of the DCP | |
Dissemination | |
 Communicate vision, focus, strategy, organisational & governance structure, system architecture, data infrastructure & data flow | Informative strategy |
 Communicate agreements with IT party(ies) about responsibility for updates and security with relevant stakeholders | |
 Promote innovation through patient conferences | |
 Find and use additional distribution channels that are already working well | |
 Communicate (cost-)effectiveness | |
Continuous motivation and support of end users | |
 Evaluate user experiences of the innovation and provide insight into effectiveness, ensuring that stakeholders/users will see the added value of the platform | Motivation and support increasing strategy |
 Engage key figures and opinion leaders to provide motivation & support for innovation among stakeholders/users to increase | |
 Have project team members (or rather the key figures) go to hospitals for personal approach & highlighting the benefits of DCPs | |
 Organise meetings with patients & healthcare providers (focus groups, workshops, conferences) for support | |
 To motivate caregivers for change (to see the need) | |
 Make the content of the innovation attractive to end users. For example, use an up-to-date website so that the usefulness of the DCP becomes clear | |
Hospital-specific context | |
 In terms of IT, make sure that the 'unwieldy hospital equipment' is circumvented as much as possible so the DCP does not/barely needs to link with hospital systems | Organisational strategy |
 Ideally, there is a connection between electronic patient files and the innovation (when relevant) | |
 Inform and motivate hospital organisations about the importance of the innovation for patients; provide a fixed point of contact in the hospital who feels responsible for a smooth implementation | Informative and motivation and support increasing strategy |
 Emphasize that good IT facilities for implementation of the innovation are a must have for hospitals | |
Actual implementation and long-term and enduring financing DCP | |
 Prepare and set a good blueprint/guideline for the rollout of the innovation, including the involvement of stakeholders; among other things, deal with the IT connectivity of systems, privacy & security, step-by-step plan with what needs to be arranged in a hospital before implementation and in what order, and where to go for support | Facilitating strategy |
 Start implementation on a small scale | |
 As a project team, offer temporary support for implementation; for the long term a good business model is indispensable | |
 Provide training for caregivers, if necessary (do not focus on the ultimate user-friendly tool because this is different for everybody) work with smart PDF including instructions | Educational strategy |
 When implementing with patients, provide extra support for certain groups | Motivation and support increasing strategy |
 Ensure the use of patient-reported outcome measurements data during a consultation, when patient-reported outcome measurements management is part of the DCP | |
 Integrate the DCP into the clinical pathway as much as possible | |
 Ensure assurance in 3 steps: start with the idea, continue to exploit innovation, build a good business case (with real-world evidence!) and obtain financing for long-term and enduring financing | Market-oriented strategy |