Using the Patient Briefcase patients can talk to the hospital staff via video, and relevant medical devices can be connected to the briefcase, so that treatment monitoring can be conducted at home. The data is sent to members of the hospital's medical staff who can then assess, advise and decide on a treatment plan. The Patient Briefcase is used as a regular part of the treatment of COPD patients, and OUH wish to test if the suitcase can be used for other types of remote medical treatment. Therefore, a pilot project is launched to test telemedicine rehabilitation of COPD patients who are too weak to participate in traditional rehabilitation care at the hospital. After hospital discharge, the Patient Briefcase is installed in the home of the patient who can then communicate with the hospital through this device and thus be guided during his/her rehabilitative training - instead of going to the hospital.

A study of the use of the telemedicine solution for the rehabilitation of COPD patients has shown promising results. Therefore, a detailed PhD study is now being launched to investigate and document the clinical effects of the telemedicine treatment as a supplement to the conventional therapy, and then compared with the sole conventional treatment.

Purpose and vision

The project aims to free up beds in the hospital by treating COPD patients in their own homes, and the PhD project should thus help to make this feasible. The project can also act as a data collection operation for the further development of the Patient Briefcase.

The vision of the project is to make patients feel more empowered in relation to their disease and to take responsibility for it. To this end, the project needs to investigate the telemedicine treatment from all angles, and has e.g. described the technological impact on the way patients, relatives and nurses have experienced the consultations and the relationship between users.

In the studies carried out, patients have generally taken an active part in their own observations and measurements, and their patient identity seems thereby to have changed so that they have become more active and self-managing. Patients take ownership of their measurements and are thus provided with a greater insight into their illness and treatment.