More information
Description
There are 1.4 billion individuals suffering from migraines in the world. Approximately 42 million migraine episodes happening every day make migraine the 3rd most prevalent and the 7th most disabling disease according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Migraine needs in most cases medication-based treatment and also support and therapy from different headache specialists (neurologist, headache nurse, psychologist, physiotherapist). The treatment can be addressed in headache clinics based on patient interviews and patient headache diary.
Now the treatment in most cases is as follows, the patient visits a general practitioner/family doctor or neurologist and is diagnosed with migraine based on patient history. The treatment is mainly medication (episodic migraine treatment and preventive migraine treatment) based and no other specialists are included for the majority of migraine patients treatment pathway.
The main goal of the project is to increase the availability of multimodal evidence-based migraine treatment by establishing a fully digital and cost-effective digital headache clinic. The digital clinic to be created consists of a patient’s mobile application and a specialist''s desktop, which are connected to each other. With development of a fully functional and multidisciplinary digital solution we will reduce migraine sufferers’ burden, improve their quality of life and lead to optimization of healthcare resources. Currently, there we have a prototype of Migrevention digital headache clinic which has passed a clinical pilot study at the University of Tartu Hospital. Migraine is a global problem with three main stakeholders - patients, specialists and employers.
Summary of project results
No major issues.
As part of the project, a diagnostic algorithm was developed, information materials have been produced for patients, which are also used in clinical research; the functionalities necessary for the clinical trial (therapies content, consultation of the headache nurse, translations) have been created and improved. In the case of the existing service, there is a nurse counseling part and translations in Estonian, Russian, English and Norwegian. The clinical trial is ongoing and comprehensive technical support is provided to the trial team. Technical documentation has been consistently prepared, automatic tests have been written, a payment system within the mobile application has been developed.
The initially presented action plan has been completed in full as the system allows to log both preventive and prophylactic drugs, it is possible to modify the therapy modules based on the patient''s needs, the ease of use for patients and specialists has been improved (several interviews with both individuals and focus groups have been conducted for this purpose).
Possibilities for consolidating, storing, saving, archiving tasks have been created, the appearance of the specialist''s desktop has been created, and the possibilities for visual display of patient data have been created. Also, possibilities for mediating patient data with different healthcare systems and clinics has been created, but additional developments are necessary for each specific system or clinic. Repeated security testing has also been carried out to mitigate and prevent all possible risks.
The free solution, or the headache diary, currently has about 7,000 users. The paid version, i.e. the headache diary with nurse counseling, has a total of 14 users who have acquired a total of approx. 88 weeks of counseling services. During the project period, approx. 6,000 people have used the solution (of which approx. 5,600 are new users).