In the last few years, the demand for digital health applications has been rising steadily. The COVID-19 pandemic in particular has helped to accelerate the use of such systems. An especially promising approach in this area is to build networked health information systems, also known as Medical Data Spaces.

These systems enable seamless integration and exchange of health information, thus providing a comprehensive view of health data and improving the efficiency and quality of medical care. They can be used profitably in clinical studies, for genome data, in care and nursing, in the analysis of patient risks or for prognoses and decisions on medical care.

The Digital Health department of Fraunhofer FIT has been conducting research in the field of integrated healthcare for many years. Based on the results of various national and EU-wide research projects, we have developed a wide range of technologies and methods and integrated them into a toolbox. It allows to quickly implement new services that specifically address the different requirements of doctors, nursing staff, patients and relatives.

Obesity in children

One example is a health application developed in the FrühstArt project. The FrühstArt app is a digital companion that supports parents of obese children between the ages of three and six. The app helps the parents keep an eye on the children's health and important factors influencing the course of the disease, including physical activity, eating habits, sleep patterns and media consumption. The app also acts as a digital interface between the doctors or coaches and the families to ensure seamless communication and collaboration.

The app’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to access personalized health information and recommendations tailored to the specific needs of each individual child. This app is thus a model implementation of the concepts of patient-centeredness and individual health management.

Patient chatbot

Another example is the patient chatbot developed in our AI-NET-PROTECT project (https://protect.ai-net.tech), which lets patients access the health information system of GPs and specialists when and where they need to see their individual data.

"In the AI-NET-PROTECT project, our particular emphasis is on privacy protection and data security. In order to strengthen the users' trust in this digital health solution, the chatbot ensures that health data are handled in strict confidentiality and in compliance with the highest security standards,” says Prof. Thomas Berlage, head of the Digital Health department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT.

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