COVID-19 Rapid Response Innovation Project
Expert-led digital control centre to provide support for front-line clinicians during the COVID-19 emergency.
The challenge
The COVID-19 emergency poses a great challenge to clinicians working on the frontline who, time-strapped, are faced with managing multiple, seriously ill patients while assimilating the constantly changing treatment protocols for the virus. There is a need to better support frontline clinicians to:
- Identify the most severe patients requiring early intensive treatment in a timely manner to improve outcomes
- Quickly recognise and treat the many complications that may affect COVID-19 positive patients (coinfections, immunomodulatory and thrombotic concerns)
- Ensure objective criteria for timely, safe and effective hospital discharge are closely adhered to
The solution
A virtual control centre for patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 that will be under the supervision of an expert infectious disease specialist. Via this tool, the expert will receive relevant patient information from electronic health records that will enable them to:
- Independently assess, validate, or augment the patient treatment plan to support optimal outcomes
- Identify the most seriously ill patients to be prioritised for specialist supervision
- Acquire learnings about different patient needs and tailored therapeutic approaches (data collected will inform an artificial intelligence algorithm to provide predictions for patients who are likely to experience the worst outcomes)
- Determine which patients meet the appropriate criteria for hospital discharge and when
Expected impact
This tool will be the first of its kind in the pandemic to combine both data collection attributes and clinical guidance on how best to work with those data. The anticipated impact is an improvement in patient outcomes, as their clinical needs will be addressed in an informed and timely manner and clinicians who will be supported to tailor their patient care, adjusting treatment plans according to need and predicted outcomes.
Partners
CLC/InnoStars: Belgium-Netherlands
Partner classification: Education, Research
Partner type: Associate Partner
KU Leuven (together with University Hospitals Leuven) is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out excellence-driven research in health and care and is dedicated to build bridges between science, society and industry.
CLC/InnoStars: Belgium-Netherlands
Partner classification: Education, Research, Hospital / University Hospital
Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam (Erasmus MC) is the largest university medical center in The Netherlands with around 16,500 employees, and a top referral hospital for a region of about five million inhabitants. A unique infrastructure bringing multidisciplinary research and healthcare together at one location allows Erasmus MC to excel in fundamental research, fast translation of findings into the clinic including first-in-man testing and clinical implementation, and epidemiological studies.
Technical university medical center: Technology is at the core of the new strategy. Erasmus MC focuses on the use of technology and data science to foster innovation in a variety of fields – from medical instruments and devices, minimally invasive surgery, imaging and image analysis, information technology and smart data technology to artificial intelligence, machine learning and biomedical technology.
Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam
Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Dr. Molewaterplein 40, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Key Activities in Research and Developement
Life Sciences, Social sciences / health economics, Clinical research
Key Activities in Social Innovation
Healthcare provision
Key Activities in Business Creation
Technology Transfer
Key Activities in Education
Medical faculties, Healthcare professional education/training
CLC/InnoStars: Spain
Partner classification: Research, Hospital / University Hospital
Partner type: Core partner
Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (HCB), founded in 1906, is a university hospital with 4,500 professionals covering most of medical and surgical specialties. It belongs to the Catalan Public Hospital Network and it is both a high-complexity tertiary hospital and a community hospital providing services to more than half million citizens. HCB is placed in Spain in a top position in the areas of research and innovation (e.g. top participant in Societal Challenge 1-Health in H2020).
Hospital Clínic de Barcelona
Carrer de Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Key Activities in Corporate Innovation
Key Innovation capacities
-Strong expertise in EIT Health projects (involved in +30 projects from all pillars since 2016)
-Internationally recognized KOLs in different fields (+100 management positions in international scientific and clinical societies)
-High volume of Clinical Trials (+200 new clinical trials performed every year) with a dedicated Clinical Trial Unit, offering an integral support
-Technology transfer (12 active spin-off; +70 active patent families)
Key Activities in Social Innovation
Healthcare provision
Key Activities in Business Creation
Testing & Validation
Key Activities in Education
-Professionals (AulaClinic) (+500 actions and +7500 participants in 2021) http://www.aulaclinic.com/
-Patients (Patient Experience Forum - Living Lab) (20 focal groups and 75 participants in 2021) https://www.clinicbarcelona.org/uploads/media/default/0002/77/9d52d7598494a2a45a34f19a56a6c4af1af6a0ae.pdf
-Citizens (PortalCLÍNIC) (+5 million visits in 2021) https://www.clinicbarcelona.org/en/portalclinic
CLC/InnoStars: Spain
Partner classification: Education, Research, Tech Transfer, Clusters, Other NGOs, Hospital / University Hospital
Partner type: Core Partner
With a staff of over 51,700 professionals, the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) is the largest public health services company of Catalonia, that provides health care to nearly six million people across the country. As a reference entity of the public health system, the aim of ICS is to improve people’s health and quality of live, through the provision of excellent health services in his 8 Hospitals and 949 primary care centers and local consultancy, regarding both the promotion of health and the treatment of diseases, from the most prevalent to the most complex ones. Also, our organization includes research - 7 Institutes - , and education. All of our activities embrace innovation and knowledge transfer as a guarantee to continuously improve the attention that the institution offers to the citizens.
Institut Català de la Salut (ICS)
Institut Català de la Salut, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007 Barcelona, Spain