Technology in healthcare helps to keep the patient on the right track
Technology can improve the life quality of patients and BuddyCare is a great example of it. To become a mother is one of the most relevant experiences in life – many daily challenges need to be faced. Breastfeeding could be one of them and healthcare professionals from the Oulu University Hospital know it well. That’s why they wanted to support their patients and families during this process.
The company Buddy Healthcare proposed to say goodbye to the old-fashioned ways with an ultimate mobile guide that includes links, videos and updated information to keep the patient on the right track. This app has been co-created hand by hand with healthcare professionals from Oulu University Hospital.
Continue reading to know more about this digital health solution and the positive impact of our co-creation methodology!
1.- Brief description of your company
Buddy Healthcare is a Finnish health tech company focusing on supporting and guiding patients throughout the patient journey. Our product BuddyCare is surgery patients’ and their families ultimate mobile guide that helps them navigate throughout the whole care process from preparation to recovery. Checklists, pre-assessment forms, reminders and timely education keep the patient on the right track.
On the other hand, care personnel may identify those patients that have deviated from the expected care plan and more efficiently allocate resources.
2.- What was the need detected by the healthcare professionals?
Breastfeeding guidance pass is a tool promoting communication relating to breastfeeding guidance between the hospital and mother and child clinic. The pass is also used to encourage and support families learning to care for their healthy newborn.
The objective was to upgrade the breastfeeding guidance pass into a digital guidance method, a mobile application, which is easy to use and provides easy access to all breastfeeding-related material (texts, links and videos).
3.- How did you propose to solve it?
During the project, we developed a mobile application and care pathway for to-be mothers and mothers who had already given birth. The mobile application includes text, images and videos about the benefits of breastfeeding on an easy-to-understand timeline which starts from the first child health centre visit ranging all the way to post-birth period.
Furthermore, the app includes links to hospital and child health centre websites that include studied and proven information about breastfeeding.
The app users may also easily write notes about topics they would like to discuss during the child health centre visits or at the hospital.
The BuddyCare app supports and guides mothers during and after pregnancy by providing content created by healthcare professionals.
4.- How do you feel about co-creation? Harder/easier than expected, teamwork benefits…
For our company, the whole co-creation process was very beneficial since before we had been mainly focusing on specialized care, but this project took us one step closer to also doing business in primary care.
Cooperation with healthcare professionals was very smooth and advanced nicely towards the goal that was clear from the very beginning.
5.- Main learnings from the inDemand process
For us, the main learning was how to set clear goals from the beginning of the co-creation process so that the development of the solution starts to go the right track right from the start. The project had clear steps and milestones which helped to form a structured and efficient development process.
Moreover, a big learning for whole our company was to get to know the challenges related to breastfeeding and guiding mothers, as well as how our BuddyCare solution may really help.
6.- What is your launch to market approach? Why has the business support received been useful?
We will continue cooperation with the healthcare units who participated in the project and continue discussions about pricing and go-to-market strategy. The BuddyCare platform is ready to be used, but the right angle to access the market must be still found.
Business support provided during the project was very beneficial as it helped us to identify relevant stakeholders.
7.- Why do you think digital transformation on healthcare pays off?
Digital transformation will definitely pay off also in the healthcare sector even though it’s a long process. Old-fashioned ways of working, thinking and outdated tools will eventually be replaced with modern technology when this new technology benefits both the patients and healthcare professionals.