e-Health

Objectives

E-Health is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the health sector to fulfil administrative, educational and healthcare objectives. E-Health services are a key element in the care of citizens and are one of the pillars on which the transformation of the current healthcare model is based.

The main objectives of this subject are:

• To know the characteristics of health information in social networks.
• To know how to identify and use the most appropriate ICT tools based on the objectives set.
• To be able to design health interventions using ICT as a facilitating tool.
• To know how to manage patients' clinical data in information systems.
• To know the most suitable computer tools for patients in treatments in students’ own discipline.
• To use video games, robotic technology and virtual reality in students’ own discipline.
• To know how to use health informatics in research.

This subject belongs to the field of Intervention Strategies in Physiotherapy.

The language of instruction for this subject is English.

Learning outcomes

• LO1. Students analyse and reflect on the use of ICT in health information.
• LO2. Students design health interventions using ICT as a facilitating tool.
• LO3. Students know how to act in contexts of virtual interaction through the use of ICT.
• LO4. Students know how to identify innovative IT techniques to be used in professional practice.
• LO5. Students evaluate professional practices in the field of health in emerging and global contexts and propose lines of intervention adjusted to the different realities through the use of ICT.

Competencies

General skills

• Cater to the health needs of the population and meet professional challenges through an innovative and dynamic outlook.
• Demonstrate commitment to the profession and its values​​, seeking sustained improvements in practice and excellence in the care of individuals, families and the community.
• Interact with others with empathy, demonstrating interpersonal relationship skills.

Specific skills

• Act professionally in accordance with the values inherent to the profession, as stated in the ethical code of physiotherapy, respecting the legal framework and with a critical approach.
• Collect, analyse and critically interpret relevant information on the user/patient and their context, within a biopsychosocial approach, to evaluate and make a clinical assessments of functional impairment, activity or participation.
• Communicate with patients/users, with significant others in their context or family, and with other professionals and managers. Use a register and channel of communication that is suited to their needs and characteristics, and the communicative context.
• Design, implement and evaluate risk prevention and health promotion actions that have an impact on factors determining health (lifestyle, social and community networks, work environment, etc.), on the basis of development, maintenance and improvement in activity and movement, within a biopsychosocial framework.
• Incorporate research and lifelong learning into professional practice through use of the best available evidence, formulating questions on the basis one's own practice and informing and designing research projects.
• Manage, organise and optimise physiotherapy work processes and care services in accordance with administrative and legal regulations and incorporating inclusive and participatory organisational models.
• Participate as a physiotherapist in an interdisciplinary context, coordinating with other professionals and routinely participating in work teams in practice.
• Understand and act in accordance with the interactive behaviour of the person in terms of gender, group or community, within their social and multicultural context, respecting the opinions, beliefs and values ​​of people, their privacy and confidentiality, and professional secrecy, and taking the life cycle into account.

Basic skills

• Students can apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and have competencies typically demonstrated through drafting and defending arguments and solving problems in their field of study.
• Students can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists.
• Students have developed the learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of independent learning.
• Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) in order to make judgements that include reflection on relevant social, scientific and ethical issues.

Core skills

• Communicate orally, in writing and audiovisually, in one's own language and in foreign languages, with proficiency in form, content and use.
• Interact in international contexts to transfer knowledge to current and emerging fields of professional development and research.
• Make use of professional skills in multidisciplinary, complex, networked environments, whether on-site or online.
• Reflect critically on knowledge of all kinds, with a commitment to professional rigour and quality.

Content

1. eHealth
2. Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems
3. Use of apps in Health
4. Use of video games in Health
5. Use of robotics in Health
6. Use of virtual reality technologies in Health
7. eHealth research and future

Evaluation

According to the UVic-UCC academic regulations for degrees, there is only one official call that includes two different evaluation periods:

• Ordinary period, which takes place integrated in the training process and during the teaching period.
• Complementary assessment period, in which the student can be assessed again for those tasks, activities or tests that have not been passed satisfactorily within the framework of the first period.

Ordinary period

Personal and group work activities are considered for the process assessment of the subject (the delivery/execution of all assessment activities cannot be extended).

The overall score for the subject is the result of the sum obtained from the different tasks and the final exam. To be able to make an average between all the items, you must have passed the exam with a grade equal to or higher than 5.

The percentages are as follows:

• Group work and exercises: 30% (non-recoverable)
• Individual work: 30% (non-recoverable)
• Attendance and participation in sessions: 10% (non-recoverable)
• Exam: 30% (recoverable)

Complementary evaluation period

The student who does not pass some of the activities considered recoverable can recover them during this period. The evaluation of this second period cannot account for more than 50% of the final mark of the subject.

The final grade for this period is calculated by taking the weighted average of the grades obtained in each of the parts, using the last grade obtained in the ordinary and the supplementary assessment.

Important

Plagiarism or copying someone else's work is penalised at all universities and, according to the Regulations on the rights and duties of students at the University of Vic, constitute serious offences. This is why, during the course of this subject, any indication of plagiarism or misappropriation of other people's texts or ideas (be they authors, the Internet or classmates) will automatically result in a fail.

To facilitate the appropriate citation of texts and materials, it is necessary to consult the academic citation guidelines and guidelines available on the website of the UVic Library.

Methodology

In line with the UVic-UCC Regulations for accreditation and demonstration of knowledge and skills in third languages, this subject is included in the "Implementation and deployment plan from English to undergraduate degrees at FCSB." This implies that this subject includes training and evaluation activities in the English language in order to accompany the achievement of this competence.

The work methodology combines:

• Theoretical sessions with the whole class group where the contents of the different topics will be presented
• Practical sessions in classroom
• Directed work sessions, individual and small group tutorials or with groups from other universities

Bibliography

Key references

• Freeman, Chris T., Rogers, Eric, Burridge, Jane H., Hughes, Ann-Marie, Meadmore, Katie L. (2015). Iterative Learning Control for Electrical Stimulation and Stroke Rehabilitation. Springer.
• Rivas, H., Wac, K. (2018). Digital Health: Scaling Healthcare to the World. Springer.
• Sittig, Dean F. (2013). Electronic Health Records: Challenges in Design and Implementation. CRC Press.
• Tan, Joseph (2005). E-Health Care Information Systems: An Introduction for Students and Professionals. John Wiley & Sons.

Further reading

Teachers will provide complementary bibliography and compulsory reading throughout the course via the Virtual Campus.