Tübingen University Hospital has become the first hospital in Germany to roll out Patients Know Best to patients. Germany is the fourth European country to use PKB after Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK (PKB’s home).
Initially a pilot programme, Tübingen’s pediatric gastroenterology unit will be using Patients Know Best to help families and children with intestinal failure better manage their conditions.
Tübingen’s pediatric gastroenterology department sees patients from across Germany, Switzerland and Austria and is a recognized European centre of excellence for the treatment of intestinal failure – a highly complex condition which can mean patients being cared for by multiple care teams.
Tübingen’s lead gastroenterology surgeon Dr Andreas Busch estimates that each of his patients is cared for by up to 40 different medical professionals – ranging from pharmacies to home hospitals. This is a situation that can result in a significant coordination challenge for Tübingen’s administrators as patient records must be constantly updated and communicated to multiple partners across wide areas – and country borders.
However, by rolling out Patients Know Best and putting the patient’s family in charge of their child’s medical record online, Tübingen hopes to improve each child’s consistency of care whilst dramatically reducing the administrative burden placed on the hospital.
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, CEO of Patients Know Best said:
“It was often said that we would never be able to break into Germany because of the country’s stringent data security laws. But actually those laws favour patient control. Our approach makes perfect sense in Germany because we put the patient – not the hospital or medical professional – in control of the sharing of own medical records. Through Patients Know Best, the patient owns and controls their own data and that’s what will make it such a powerful solution. We’re delighted to be working with Dr Busch and his dedicated team at University Hospital Tübingen to help them deliver even better care.”