DIG_IT 2.0: The asthma and COPD patient’s digital journey

Following the execution of the DIG_IT project in 2021, which resulted in a pan-European survey on asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients’ digital health use and needs in Europe, in 2022 EFA aimed at bringing further the patient perspective in the discussions about the digitalisation of their healthcare.

In 2022, EFA conceived and executed a communication and dissemination strategy to maximize the visibility of the DIG_IT survey results, that we transformed into a survey report. The report was published on June 14th at European level and in Helsinki (Finland), coinciding with the Healthcare and Information Management System Society (HIMSS) European Health Conference. Together with the report, EFA also published a country factsheets for each of the surveyed countries, providing the national patients associations with an additional tool to advocate for a more patient-centred digitalisation in healthcare.

The views of asthma and COPD patients around the digitalisation of their care also had a special spot during the 72th WHO Europe Regional Committee meeting in Tel Aviv, as EFA’s representative presented it in during a session at the “speaker corner.

We started collaborating with the European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL) who supported EFA with the operationalisation of the DIG_IT project results, and the creation of the Prize to be awarded to the digital app for respiratory health.

EFA promoted the DIG_IT report in multiple occasions:

  • June 14-16
    Launch at HIMSS European Health Conference, Helsinki (Finland) (pic HIMSS22)
  • June 14
    Press Release on the DIG_IT report panEuropean (online)
  • June 23-24
    European Patients Forum Annual Congress on digital transformation in healthcare, Brussels (Belgium)
  • June 28-29
    International Respiratory Coalition Summit, Paris (France)
  • September 3-7
    European Respiratory Society Congress, Barcelona (Spain)
  • September 12-14
    72th WHO Europe Regional Committee meeting, Tel Aviv (Israel)
  • September 22
    Patients and Consumers Working Party of European Medicines Agency, Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
  • September 27 – 28
    TOLIFE kick off meeting (Pisa, Italy)

HIMMS22 DIG IT Report

EFA attended for the first time the HIMSS European Health Conference to connect with digital health professionals and policymakers on the basis of the DIG_IT report.