The KULT-SH treatment model has been awarded the National Telemedicine Prize 2024. With this award, the German Society for Telemedicine honours innovative projects that make an outstanding contribution to telemedicine and the improvement of healthcare. ‘We are proud of this most important honour for telemedicine in Germany. This success would not have been possible without the dedicated team behind it,’ says Prof. Dr Martin Schrappe, Project Manager and Director of the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine I at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Kiel Campus.
KULT-SH (‘Paediatric oncological examination through efficient telemedicine in Schleswig-Holstein’) was developed at the UKSH and implemented with various partners such as Techniker Krankenkasse and DAK Gesundheit in order to make everyday life easier for children, adolescents and their families suffering from cancer. These patients often have to present themselves at the paediatric clinic for clinical examinations, which is a particular burden for families from rural areas due to the enormous travelling times involved. The financial burden on health insurance companies is also high.
KULT-SH is based on a mobile device app specially developed for children, in which vital data is recorded using sensors and other information in questionnaires at the respective family’s home and then transmitted to a personal, cross-institutional patient file. This can be viewed by the treating staff and discussed with the patient and parents in a telemedical video visit. The project improves the quality of life of patients and their families, reduces the risk of infection, strengthens outpatient medical care and reduces travel costs and CO₂ emissions.
‘The National Telemedicine Award recognises our commitment to healthcare solutions that focus on integrated IT solution packages rather than individual components. The award motivates us to continue breaking new ground in the standardised integration of different healthcare telematics components,’ says Prof. Dr Björn Bergh, Director of the Institute for Medical Informatics and Statistics (IMIS), Head of the Medical Informatics Section and Chief Digital Officer of the UKSH, who is responsible for the technical concept and implementation of the project’s IT infrastructure.
The recruitment phase of the randomised KULT-SH study with 55 participants from the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has currently been completed. The results and the new IT infrastructure should pave the way for the nationwide introduction of telemedicine into standard care for children and adolescents with cancer and other vulnerable patient groups.
KULT-SH was launched in 2021 by Prof Dr Björn Bergh, the head of evaluation Prof Dr Dr Fabian-Simon Frielitz and the then head of the study Prof Dr Denis Schewe. The project was funded by the Innovation Fund of the Federal Joint Committee.