Wir überwinden Grenzen

Surgery preparation via app: this should be possible thanks to a project at the Department of Urology at the University Medical Center Freiburg. This is because an important question when preparing for surgery is whether and when medication that affects blood clotting needs to be discontinued. This decision has become very complex due to new active ingredients, constantly changing scientific findings and different bleeding risk groups for the procedures. Together with researchers from the Department of Cardiology at the Medical University of Warsaw (WUM) and industrial partners from the fields of computer design and IT, the Freiburg doctors and researchers are now developing a new app that will support doctors in making treatment decisions and educate patients. The development is being funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with 300,000 euros as part of the "German-Polish Cooperation for Technology Transfer in the Digital Economy" (DPT).

Around 65 million people in Europe take medication that reduces blood clotting, for example to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Unlike in the past, modern anticoagulants often only need to be discontinued shortly before surgery, and some do not need to be discontinued at all.

App users should be able to choose between patient and doctor mode

"Currently, anticoagulant therapy is often stopped too early before the procedure and the medication is replaced with the wrong preparations in some cases. This can be detrimental to patients," says Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Miernik, Managing Senior Physician and Head of the Urotechnology Section at the Department of Urology at the Freiburg University Medical Center.

Miernik and his team are now planning an app with a patient and a doctor mode. "We want to provide patients with general information on the topic of anticoagulation medication and surgery, possibly also as a video. Doctors should receive specific, evidence-based information on common standards and a treatment recommendation," explains Miernik.

User needs taken into account right from the start

In order to take the wishes and needs of future users into account from the outset, a workshop was recently held in Freiburg, which was attended by the project partners as well as hospital and private practice doctors, nursing staff and patients. "The feedback from those involved was very positive. Overall, it turned out that such information apps are better accepted today than normal websites," says project coordinator Friederike Praus, scientist and physician in the Urotechnology Section of the Department of Urology at the Freiburg University Medical Center.

Of the approximately 100 applications submitted to the BMBF's DPT funding program, nine projects were selected for funding. The CHASER (antiCoagulation Help App for SurgERy) project received the best ratings of all projects "The fact that our project team brings together medical specialists, programmers and experts in digital user-computer interaction right from the start was rated particularly positively. This is an excellent basis for a successful project," says Dr. Philippe-Fabian Müller, responsible project manager of the Section for Urotechnology at the Department of Urology at the Freiburg University Medical Center.

Contact: 
Prof. Dr. Dr. med. univ. Arkadiusz Miernik, FEBU 
Managing Senior Physician 
Head of the Urotechnology Section 
Department of Urology 
Freiburg University Medical Center 
Phone: 0761 270-25821 
arkadiusz.miernik@uniklinik-freiburg.de