443 - Partnering with consumers living with disability to co-design and test digitally supported models of healthcare. Rebecca Barnden, National Centre for Healthy Ageing

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, host Sophie Turner sits down with Rebecca Barnden, Project Manager at the National Centre for Healthy Ageing and PhD Candidate at Monash University. They explore deep into Rebecca's exciting work on developing and testing digitally supported methods to capture consumer needs and preferences within healthcare. Rebecca discusses her transition from physiotherapist to an innovator in healthcare solutions, co-designing with consumers, including those living with disabilities. This episode uncovers the intricacies of integrating consumer data with electronic hospital systems and emphasises the collaborative process to ensure these digital models are inclusive and beneficial for everyone.

Key Takeaways:

- Person-Centred Care: Consumers want to be active partners in their healthcare. It's crucial to involve them in decisions, as this aligns with their need for choice and control like other sectors.

- Seamless Healthcare Journey: Consumers often face frustrations like repeating their stories across different care settings. This project aims to create a continuous healthcare journey through a single digital gateway that captures and carries consumer information seamlessly.

- Co-design and Collaboration: Successful solutions come from co-designing with both consumers and clinicians. The experience-based co-design process ensures solutions are practical and beneficial for all parties involved.

- Digital Inclusivity: There's a significant risk that digital healthcare solutions, often designed for majority populations, could further marginalize disadvantaged groups. Partnering with people living with disabilities in the co-design process helps create more inclusive healthcare solutions.

- Implementation Challenges: One of the considerable hurdles in implementing new digital models of care is clinician awareness and integration into existing workflows. Ongoing iterative testing and refinements are essential for overcoming these challenges.

- Future Insights: Looking ahead, scaling the implementation across more health services and integrating consumer data with diverse clinical systems is the focus. It's important to ensure that digital health interventions are inclusive of all populations to reduce health disparities.

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.

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