Since March 2015, neurological patients have been utilizing one aspect of the PKB medical record by uploading videos of seizures and sharing those videos with healthcare professionals without having to be present. A useful tool to support the diagnosis of epilepsy, the PKB platform allows patients to quickly and securely inform health professionals of not only one but several pieces of footage, which can help with diagnosis in a timely manner.
It’s improved our ability to discriminate between epilepsy and non-epilepsy. And where it is epilepsy, it’s improved our ability to treat it. – Dr. Richard Brown, consultant paediatrician
Given the success of this pilot, Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals will be rolling out PKB for their inflammatory bowel disease patients as well.
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First appeared on www.digitalhealth.net
PKB sends epilepsy video to Peterborough
Peterborough and Stamford NHS Trust is encouraging the families of children with epilepsy to upload videos of their seizures to Patients Know Best to help with diagnosis.
Speaking to Digital Health News, Dr Richard Brown, consultant paediatrician at the trust, said the system was having a significant impact on patient care as it makes it easier for families to share video footage, which is “crucial to a large portion of epilepsy diagnosis.”
Brown said: “It’s improved our ability to discriminate between epilepsy and non-epilepsy. And where it is epilepsy, it’s improved our ability to treat it.”
Peterborough and Stamford went live with Patients Know Best – a patient-controlled electronic medical record – in March 2015.
The ability to upload videos is just one aspect of its record, and it was an idea of the trust’s IT team to use the tool to support epilepsy diagnosis. So far 70 neurology patients have signed up to the system and clinicians have seen approximately 60 videos.
Brown explained the importance that video footage plays in diagnosing the condition, mentioning that “there is no test for epilepsy.”
“A lot of people think brainwave tests help diagnosis. But usually that’s not the case; they help us to classify it but the diagnostic tool really is video.”
However, Brown added that there were several “obstacles” in the way of people who used smartphones and tablets to take videos, such as problems with the hospital email system’s ability to handle large file sizes and worries about information governance.
Showing videos in person is also often impractical, says Brown, leading to delays in getting footage to clinicians and discouraging people from sharing multiple videos with doctors. “We get information slower than expected in the information age.”
By using Patients Know Best, Brown says families now have a secure system to upload videos that doctors can then view, provided the patient has granted them access to their record.
“They can send information in at speed of thought. And we are able to review it in a timely fashion; usually within hours or couple of days.”
As well as making it easier to share videos, Brown said that Patients Know Best also allows patients to share several pieces of footage, which can help with diagnosis.
“One of them may be a light bulb moment. So maybe we can see the beginning of the seizure and work out it is a focal seizure rather than a generalised seizure.
“That changes the whole perspective on treating patients. That could make the difference between continuing to try treating a patient with drugs or to send them for an epilepsy referral.”
Brown also said the trust plans to start using more of the capabilities of Patients Know Best to support its neurology patients, such as documenting how many seizures a patient has and the side effects of medication. “It has the potential to be extremely useful and we will be using features more in future.”
The trust is expanding the use of the system to other areas, including inflammatory bowel disease, where it will be used to improve the treatment planning and monitoring of patients.
Robert Dennis, consultant colorectal surgeon, said: “We are using a different element of the Patients Know Best system where patients report their signs and symptoms, which we check regularly to identify markers that indicate they may require a clinical intervention.”
“This system will provide a consistent and accurate monitoring of a patient’s signs and symptoms and it will mean we can pick up issues earlier and avoid the patient having to attend hospital as an emergency or when requiring urgent treatment.”
First posted on https://www.peterboroughandstamford.nhs.uk/news
Service to improve patients’ diagnoses and treatment is shortlisted for national health award
Published: 21st September 2015
The Trust’s innovative approach to enhance the care and treatment for neurological patients has been shortlisted for a national health award.
The neurological ‘Patients Know Best’ service has been shortlisted for the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Award in the ‘improving care with technology’ category.
“The ‘Patients Know Best’ system enables patients and their parents or carers to upload videos of their neurological episodes, such as seizures,” said Dr Richard Brown, consultant paediatrician.
“Members of our adult and paediatric neurological teams then access the video in order to better understand the patient’s condition and symptoms and to provide an enhanced diagnosis and treatment plan.
“This system provides videos in a secure, standardised format, which we can review without the need for the patient or their families to be present. In some cases we have eliminated certain types of epilepsy, and we have been able to confidently plan courses of treatment, based on what we’ve seen.”
Given the success of the neurological pilot service, the system will be used to support Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients in order to improve their treatment planning and monitoring.
Mr Robert Dennis, consultant colorectal surgeon, said: “We are using a different element of the ‘Patients Know Best’ system where patients report their signs and symptoms, which we check regularly to identify markers that indicate they may require a clinical intervention.
“This system will provide a consistent and accurate monitoring of a patient’s signs and symptoms and it will mean we can pick up issues earlier and avoid the patient having to attend hospital as an emergency or when requiring urgent treatment.”
Dr Kanchan Rege, Medical Director, said: “I am delighted we have been shortlisted for this national award. It is great recognition of the improvements we have made for neurological patient care and treatment using technology. I am sure we will see similar positive outcomes for our IBD patients.”
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, founder and CEO of Patients Know Best, said: “By providing clinicians with video footage of patient seizures, the Trust is using Patients Know Best in a truly revolutionary way that’s already improving the lives of their neurological patients.
“We are proud to be working with the Trust and hope to work with them in the future to empower patients and carers to improve their health management and care.”
Notes for editors
- This is the first time the ‘Patients Know Best’ system has been used specifically for neurology patients. The Trust has 25 adult patients and 58 paediatric patients (plus their carers) actively taking part so far, with 197 patients registered for the system.
- The IBD team is currently recruiting patients to its ‘Patients Know Best’ pilot service.
- The HSJ celebrates excellence and innovation through its awards, showcasing efforts to deliver the best care in the most effective way.
- The HSJ Awards winners will be announced at its prestigious awards event at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on 18 November 2015.
- Patients Know Best is the world’s first fully patient-controlled online medical records system and multi-award winning tool to help patients better manage their care.
- Patients Know Best is fully secure and enables patients to better organise, manage and control their own health care provision – it also saves the time of physicians through allowing secure, online consultations.
- In May 2015, Patients Know Best won the ‘Champion’ award at the eHealth Competition. Patients Know Best is one of 17 companies chosen for NHS England’s Digital Health Accelerator Programme. www.patientsknowbest.com
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