Projects

The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation- Tekes (1.9.2015-31.12.2017)

The purpose of this project is to create tools for tailoring heart patients’ health records, interactive patient education material, and medication information for patients and professionals. Tools can be applied to and further developed for other patient groups as well.

As a result, we develop applications that will provide patients with information about their condition, care, and medication combined from various sources. The information will be individually tailored and understandable, supporting patients’ own decision making, participation, and commitment.

For professionals, solutions for producing high-quality patient records, patient education material, and medication information will be developed. Texts will be automatically translated to a language understandable to patients. Instead of using a simplified, plain language, the original information content will be preserved and efficiently communicated. Professionals will be supported by flexible information retrieval and visualization possibilities. Also information about individual medication can be found easily.

The patient education ontology, that will be developed, supports professionals in constructing individually targeted patient education material with secured quality. Using the ontology, patient education material can be classified, combined, and retrieved by different criteria. Thanks to the interactivity of the tools, any shortages and discrepancies in patient education material can be detected and corrected. The applications also support patient participation, the development of patient-centric care, and professional knowledge about the effectiveness of care.

The developed tools can be used in commercial systems in different ways. Some of the resulting tools are language independent and thus can be used also internationally. The research group collaborates with researchers from Stockholm University, Sweden, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Academy of Finland (1.1.2011-31.12.2014)

The project aims at improving the usability and utilization of the narrative text of patient journals. In the project we shall produce novel information on clinical documentation and forecast value of results criteria in health care (pain and wound as well as infection care and clinical decision-making) care through content analysis of narratives, language technology, as well as multicultural comparison. Based on narrative research, the project supports better narrative production and utilization in a way that corresponds the needs of different user groups. The project takes into account the viewpoints of health care personnel and patients. The project develops end user friendly, innovative, intelligent clinical language technology solutions that are based on world-class research.

The purpose of the project is to develop new innovations in medication dispensing in order to allocate resources more efficiently in a holistic way, using smart technologies such as embedded and context-aware systems. The ultimate goal is to develop a medical dispenser system combining a tablet computer and a sensor-enhanced medication tray. This dispenser system is integrated to the patient information system. The principal investigators are professors Johan Lilius (ÅAU, information technology), Sanna Salanterä (UTU, nursing science) and Tapio Salakoski (UTU, information technology).

Contextual snapshot -project
The Finnish Work Environment Fund (1.9.2014-31.12.2015)

In the project we study what possibilities and demands the use of real-time information brings to patient-driven care processes and how modern ICT can be of help in this context. A decisive factor in terms of activities built for customer needs and the related supporting system is the ability to see a snapshot of operational events (care processes) from the viewpoint of the patient and the different operational levels. This avoids the barriers, weaknesses and risks of the old unit-centred service system. The target of this project is to determine the type of content, the source and the presentation format of material and the type of information quality indicators that are valid in the new service production. Simultaneously, the project will examine the needs and possibilities of new technology solutions in the strategic and operative management of a new type of health service system, and in decision-making related to patients and nursing staff.

The project will develop snapshots to support decision-making at different management levels. Different actors will be offered relevant information depending on their position. Individuality will be obtained by combining the patient’s personal health situation with general practices. The new TYKS T-hospital serves as the innovation platform.

The purpose of the project is to develop service sector innovations for rehabilitation based on research in intelligent technologies such as modern sensor technology and theory of smart spaces. The grand idea is to achieve substantially improved patient well-being and better allocation of scarce health care resources. More specifically, the project results will be employed to facilitate more active and independent life for rehab patients at hospital and at home through the use of sensor and other pervasive technologies. Empower patients to take more control of their health. An integral part of this is to invent smart technologies to support patients’ social interaction and quality of life in general. This reduces patients’ excessive dependence on the health-care system and makes possible to allocate health care resources in a more efficient way. The principal investigators are professors Johan Lilius (ÅAU, information technology), Sanna Salanterä (UTU, nursing science).

The collaboration with Auria biobank involves develop new ways to utilise masses of health care data, both numerical and textual. One point of focus is the automatic extraction of tumour characterisations from written pathology reports to supplement existing structured data in medical analysis.

The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation- Tekes (1.1.2011-30.6.2013)
Mobile and environment integrated dictation and communication application for health care, Mobster
The general purpose of the project is through a broad-based and multidisciplinary consortium to develop know-how for firms to produce reliable and user-friendly dictation and communication applications for physicians and primary care personnel. The targets are (1) static environments such as hospitals and health care centers, (2) health care units capable of moving (e.g. ambulances) and (3) communication at distance between these. In all targets important areas include (4) supporting terminology and multilingualism and (5) control of instruments in the environment. Applying high-quality speech technology in these areas requires the integration of (i) speech and (ii) language technologies with (iii) multisensory interface technology.

Nordforsk (1.7.2009-30.6.2012) – Text-mining of patient records

HEalth teXt Analysis network in the Nordic and Baltic countries, HEXAnord
Hexanord is a researcher network with participants involved in health science, computer science and information technology in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The overall aim of the network is to explore the differences and similarities in the texts in electronic patient records in the various countries by means of text mining. Another aim of the network is to strengthen cooperation between the participating universities in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Nordic Network and Roadmap Development for Welfare Technology, NordRoad

Norden (1.1.2012-31.12.2014) – Roadmap developement for welfare technology