Helicon Health, the new and fast growing company with tools to improve the management of chronic disease in the community, is collaborating with University College London (UCL) to enable further development of the Helicon Health’s shared care and patient self care education programme.
Helicon Health provides healthcare practitioners with a unique, integrated package of web services, governance and clinical education. In use with a number of Clinical Commissioning Groups – the company’s flagship product, HeliconHeart, is focused on anticoagulation and stroke prevention. The education programme for clinicians blends web-based elearning with face-to-face teaching and experiential learning.
The collaboration is with UCL’s ‘Knowledge Exchange Associates programme’ (see notes for editors), which will fund a six-month research project focusing on the development of elearning tools, to help patients wishing to play a greater role in their anticoagulation management.
The research will be conducted by Bridget Coleman, a former PhD student at UCL. Bridget’s PhD centred on shared care, specifically patient self-care and examined self-monitoring of oral anticoagulation therapy in particular depth. Through this work, Bridget built a considerable knowledge base around patient self-care and, specifically, patient self-management of oral anticoagulation.
The objectives of the project are:
- To engage with patients to define their education & training requirements for shared and patient –centred care
- To engage with carers to outline their education & training requirements for shared and patient –centred care
- To define how this educational material will be delivered and tested
- To develop a prototype educational programme
Commenting on the post, David Patterson, Chief Executive of Helicon Health said:
“This collaboration with UCL allows us to apply the knowledge Bridget gained from her PhD, to the educational component of our integrated shared care package, with a specific focus on self-care. We know that education and support are crucial for patients wishing to take more responsibility for managing their oral anticoagulation but we need to know more about their specific needs and concerns. This project will help us develop robust elearning course materials that give patients the necessary information and confidence.”
The findings of the research project will be applied to Helicon Health’s patient centred care education programme as soon as is practical in 2014.
Further information:
David Patterson
E: davidpatterson@heliconhealth.co.uk
Marcie Bell
Notes to editors:
- Helicon Health’s CPD course in Cardiovascular Shared Care and Patient Centred Care offers high quality and relevant education to support better quality care. The course equips clinicians with up to date knowledge as well as the skills to perform relevant procedures. It blends web-based elearning with face-to-face teaching and clinical, experiential learning.
- UCL has established a “Knowledge Exchange Associate programme” which aims to set up collaborative arrangements between the University and commercial organisations with the aim of providing training and work experience for students and junior employees of the University and encouraging knowledge transfer between the participants of the scheme for their mutual benefit. This is sponsored by UCL Advances, the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Interaction at UCL.
