Endocrine Abstracts

JOINT1645

Background: Long-term management of paediatric growth hormone deficiency (GHD) has advanced with the utilisation of digital health solutions. In Finland, the integration of automated growth monitoring with Electronic Health Records has demonstrated significant improvements in diagnosis of GHD, thereby enhancing early detection and collaboration between primary care providers and specialists.

Aim: Identifying key factors for digital health solution recommendations that support paediatric growth hormone treatments (pGHTs) in Finland from a nursing perspective and assesing the impact of the evolution of these solutions.

Method: A participatory workshop was conducted on 11 June 2024, in Helsinki, Finland, with seven nurses experienced in pGHT and three moderators. Workshop was divided in two parts: the first part utilised the Nominal Group Technique to identify key factors for recommending digital health solutions, while the second part assessed experts’ views on how advancements in health technology impact their recommendations. Activities in the first part included silent idea generation, round robin sharing, discussion, and ranking of key factors. The second part of workshop included presentations of two study cases using two devices: Easypod® autoinjector and Easypod® connect transmitter (EP2) and Easypod® next generation (EP3) device. This qualitative activity focused on assessment of these devices in terms of ergonomics, aesthetics, ease of use, and usefulness, followed by a quantitative activity to evaluate their perceived benefits.

Results: For the first part of workshop, experts identified eighteen key recommendation factors and divided them into three high level categories: individual-related factors, healthcare provider-related factors and digital solution-related factors. Based on the score provided by the experts, ‘ease of use’ was the most relevant factor (emphasising the need for user-friendly designs, especially in low-resource settings) followed by ‘patient motivation’ and ‘treatment adherence, ’ while ‘training materials’ and ‘technical support’ received the lowest scores. Qualitative evaluation in the second part of workshop identified the following issues: physical characteristics of devices, touch screen, interacting, attractiveness, personalisation, safety, data transmission and learning and teaching. Overall, the experts believed that technological advancements have positively influenced the identified factors and care services. These findings highlighted the importance of accessible and engaging designs that cater to diverse age groups, thereby enhancing patient autonomy and adherence.

Conclusion: Advancements in digital health technology can enhance the management of pGHT by improving usability and accessibility, thereby boosting patient motivation and treatment adherence. Intuitive designs, familiar interfaces and streamlined training processes can further facilitate early adoption of digital devices and promote patient autonomy.