ehealth as a tool for intravenous treatment at home for children and young people with acute or long-term illness

Intravenous infusion therapy for children and young people with long-term illness (LTI) at home is becoming an increasingly important area as it improves the quality of life of children and young people and their families. Having a child with LTI means that parents/caregivers must perform many care tasks for the children both in the hospital and at home. Studies have shown that parents/caregivers can become worried if they lack knowledge about the care tasks and do not receive the right support. This research is carried out at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. There, children and young people with LTI receive intravenous treatment at home with a portable infusion pump with limited support from home health care staff. The overall goal is to develop and test an eHealth solution to ensure safety and security, continuity, treatment, and care quality for children and young people with intravenous infusion treatment and whose self-care at home is managed by parents/caregivers.

So far, we have investigated the needs of parents whose children have intravenous treatment at home and of the staff at Rigshospitalet. Based on this, a digital application, "MinPlan", has been developed in the child's digital journal for to strengthen the parents and help them with self-care with support from the staff. Three instructional videos have been produced and pilot tested. Evaluation is ongoing. Data on how implementation will take place are collected continuously.

The project is part of the FORTE-funded research program eChildhealth.