At the MEDICA trade fair to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany from 14-17 November, apart from the new products of the more than 4,200 participants from about 70 countries, the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM, an integrated part of the trade fair, will offer an overview of top trends in data-driven medicine.

“The focus this year is on how health IT can contribute to more sustainability in health care, and on optimising treatment workflows through improved interlocking of digital processes and the human factor,” said Christian Grosser, Director Health & Medical Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf.

The “Digital Patient Journey”, for example, is an important topic to be presented at the start of MEDICA 2022 on 14 November on the programme stage of the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM. Moderator Prof. Felix Hoffmann, from the Apollon University for Health Care Management in Bremen, has emphasised that processes in health care need improving. For example, a fracture of the lateral malleolus (ankle bone) usually would only need standard treatment. But if a patient arrives at the hospital late in the evening, it could happen that rather less experienced doctors have to carry out treatment, says Hoffmann. In this case, software-based check lists could render valuable support – for example those offered by Kumi Clinical. With the help of this software, clinical teams can plan, organise and synchronise treatment following a digital check list. From their arrival to check-ups in the aftermath of inpatient care, patients follow a digital treatment path, which is based on medical standards (SOPs) and can be flexibly adapted. All roles that share a part of the treatment process are integrated: doctors, care givers, service staff, hospital occupancy and discharge management, as well as medical controlling. This is to ensure that all participants are kept current at all times regarding the latest information, and the entire treatment path is followed correctly. The digital voice recognition software “voize” strives to contribute to the optimisation of these processes using digital speech assistants, and will also be represented at this forum’s symposium.

Therapy plans “powered by AI”
In a another symposium on Tuesday afternoon, 15 November, there will be a discussion of therapy plans based on artificial intelligence (AI). Alfa AI, for example, uses AI to create a therapy plan. The application follows patients throughout the process, offers transparency as well as the prescribed training plan, including video lessons. In this way, Alfa AI brings together medical knowledge, long-term experience with sports and fitness, insights about proper nutrition and state-of-the-art technology.

How medical networking can help save energy
Improving processes in health care could also help fight climate change – for example through beneficial use of information technology. “How can healthcare become more sustainable with digital help? ” is a question that Armin de Greiff, technical director at the university hospital in Essen will ask during the expert panel at the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM on 16 November, which is wholly dedicated to the issue of “Green Health & Sustainability”.

On the final day, 17 November 2022, the forum will focus on general developments and their possible relevance with regard to health IT. Some of the topics in the programme are “Gender-sensitive medicine” and “New work & occupational health” as well as new developments in the area of artificial intelligence.

A complete schedule of presentations at the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM is available here: https://www.medica.de/mhif2.