Carer and doctor develop an OnkoBase app together.
The two prizewinners Dr Natalie Palmaers and Laura Feuerhahn together with Anna-Lena Herbach and Dr Urs Mücke. Copyright: Tina Götting/MHH
How could patient safety and quality of care be improved? The nursing and treatment teams usually have the best ideas themselves - but there is rarely time to implement them in the stressful day-to-day life on the ward. The SICKO paediatric oncology team would like to change this. For the first time, it organised the internal SICKO Innovation Award, which is endowed with 2,000 euros. The winners are Dr Natalie Palmaers, a doctor, and Laura Feuerhahn, a nurse. They convinced the five-member interdisciplinary jury with their joint concept for an OnkoBase app.
The OnkoBase app could supplement the thick A4 paper folder that guides every patient through cancer treatment as a ‘companion’. At the award ceremony on 13 March, the idea met with huge approval among the staff. This is because the entire contents of the folder could be accessed digitally using the app: Information about the illness, findings, therapy plans, contact details, educational videos and much more. All of this in several languages and accessible at all times for everyone involved - affected children and adolescents, carers, treating staff and parents.
SICKO supports all ideas submitted
SICKO stands for ‘Safety in paediatric oncology (SICKO) - interprofessional training and innovations for greater safety for patients, families and staff’. The team offers workshops for doctors and nursing staff. Practical skills and communication techniques are trained. Interprofessionalism is a top priority at SICKO. ‘We bring the professional groups together as equals. This is the only way to ensure good teamwork in paediatric oncology,’ explains project coordinator Anna-Lena Herbach. This is why only interprofessional tandems were allowed to apply for the SICKO Innovation Award.
A total of six applications were submitted. ‘All of them were very close to each other in the evaluation,’ emphasises project manager Dr Urs Mücke. He promised that the SICKO team would not only support the further development of the OnkoBase app, but also the other ideas.
Text: Tina Götting