MyPath-MATRIX
Stein Kaasa, deputy director in MATRIX, is leading the international MyPath project funded by EU’s Horizon Europe programme. MyPath is a 5-year innovation and implementation project aiming to integrate patient-centred care in routine cancer care. Patient-centred care acknowledges the individual patient's self-reported symptoms, needs, and preferences. To method to succeed is the development and implementation of a digital solution with patient-centred care pathways that are custom-made for the individual patient. The patients report their symptoms on any digital device, and their answers are immediately transferred to the health care providers’ working stations. This facilitates immediate follow-up if necessary, and allows real-time communication of symptoms and care preferences. Together with the implementation strategy developed during the project, (the digital solution of) MyPath will make the proven concept of patient-centred care an integrated part of routine cancer care.
The project currently includes four Norwegian hospitals: Oslo University Hospital, Ålesund Hospital, Telemark Hospital Trust and Førde Central Hospital. At the last MATRIX gathering in Stavanger in March 2024, work packages 3 and 5 organized a separate workshop, discussing the project and planning the upcoming work with these four hospitals.
MyPath consists of two parallel work streams: the clinical perspective related to how this affects the way people work, and the actual development of the digital solution. Each hospital has mapped and assessed their current clinical practices and identified ways to improve their work flow with specific focus on how a digital solution can support the workflow. In other words, each hospital has examined how MyPath can function in their specific setting to optimize patient-centred care and to better allocate resources. DNV Imatis is the consortium partner who develops and programs the digital solution, with input from clinicians and researchers. An important part is to assess and understand how the solution will be functioning to support the clinical work and improve the efficacy. At the MATRIX gathering in Stavanger, representatives from the Norwegian hospitals tested the first digital prototype of MyPath, and provided feedback for further programming. The first version (of the digital solution) is under development, and is set to be introduced at the four Norwegian hospitals in the fall 2024 and during the winter / spring 2025.
There is a large international effort ongoing, where the content of the patient-centred care pathways are developed by international research groups. The development is co-created and tested with clinicians and patients from various sites along the way. The Norwegian part of the project, MyPath-MATRIX, has recently welcomed a user organization, Pancreaskreft Nettverk Norge(PKNN). They are eager to help convey the message of how important patient-centred care is to cancer patients and their families, and a newly formed user panel from PKNN will provide input on the content of the MyPath solution going forward.
