- Story
Remote Care Emmental promises relief for GPs
03.03.2025 A BFH project is investigating how telemedicine and digital networking can relieve the burden on GPs in rural areas. Sang-Il Kim, co-director of the Swiss Center for Care@home, outlines the project.
Key points at a glance
- Access to basic health care in rural areas is under threat.
- One reason for this is the latent shortage of skilled workers in the healthcare sector.
- Approaches such as Remote Care Emmental aim to make a better, more effective use of resources.
- BFH is investigating how these approaches can be implemented.
How did the project "Remote primary care in Emmental" (Remote Care in der Grundversorgung im Emmental) begin?
One of the driving factors was undoubtedly the shortage of skilled healthcare staff, which is particularly pronounced in rural areas. ‘Remote care’ is defined as ‘looking after patients from a distance’. It is an approach that can save time. With the same number of staff, it is possible to treat the same number of patients – or even more – than in a GP’s office. The approach should help maintain access to healthcare in rural areas.
Each hospital admission represents a significant amount of work for everyone involved.
What is the aim of the project?
The project focuses on improving acute medical care in nursing homes. Its aim is to demonstrate that in-depth on-site diagnoses are possible and reasonable without the physical presence of a doctor. This approach also reduces the need for ambulances and hospitalisations, particularly when an emergency takes place outside regular work hours.
Furthermore, it contributes to the well-being of patients, as each hospital admission represents a significant amount of work for everyone involved, including personnel and administrative resources. Last but not least, the project aims to provide better support for nursing staff and hopefully keep them longer in the workforce.
Can you give specific examples of telemedicine technologies used in outpatient care?
An example in remote care is the use of computers on mobile trolleys, which are already being used for hospital rounds. The trolleys are equipped with additional measuring instruments such as ultrasound devices and video consultation technology, which allows doctors to see and assess patients in real time without having to be on site.
Another example is the measurement of vital signs with mobile devices in combination with teleconsultations. Thanks to these technologies, medical dispatch centres can decide outside regular work hours whether a patient needs to be hospitalised. Having said that, the new live consultations aim to avoid hospitalisations wherever possible.
However, there are still unanswered questions about the use of these devices: the costs, and whether the devices are used sufficiently in the care home to justify the initial investment – all this has to be clarified. In addition, it is still unclear how practical and user-friendly the devices actually are. It is an aspect of remote consultation than requires further investigation.
Our medium-term objective is to use the electronic patient record (EPR) as a data exchange platform.
What are the next steps of the project?
The project has great potential, as there is currently a lack of research in this field. In Germany, similar initiatives are being implemented in nursing homes as pilot projects. However, no conclusive data has yet been produced.
Financing is a decisive factor in the project’s progress, as is the involvement of the industry. It is essential for the project’s set up and further technical development. Our medium-term objective is to use the electronic patient record (EPR) as a data exchange platform to facilitate the flow of information between various stakeholders. Patients have access to their EPR, and so should nursing staff and doctors in order to collaborate more efficiently.
We submitted the project to the Federal Office of Public Health on 5 January 2025 as part of the “Efficiency in primary healthcare” (Effizienz in der medizinischen Grundversorgung) funding programme. We are hopeful that the decision will be favourable, as it would allow us to launch the project on 1 May 2025.
More about the project "Remote primary care in Emmental”
Primary healthcare in rural regions such as the Emmental is facing growing challenges due to the shortage of skilled workers, particularly in family medicine.
The innovative project “Remote primary care in Emmental” (Remote Care in der Grundversorgung im Emmental) aims to address these issues with modern technologies and improved workflows.
It is conducted in collaboration with the Schlossmatt nursing home, the Emmental Burgdorf hospital, Post Sanela Health AG, Roche Diagnostics, the manufacturing company Riester and Docs-in-Cloud, and will eventually integrate other stakeholders such as Spitex and GPs.
BFH is involved in the project with the Institute for Medical Informatics and the Swiss Center for Care@home (link to German site).
