An air of novelty and a desire to enhance the efficiency of patient care. This is where the Alba-Bra Multiple Sclerosis Center joins the StayHome project, developed by Biogen in collaboration with the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Association (AISM). Participation in StayHome is part of the phase of great changes that have taken place in recent years, as part of the reorganization following the opening of the new “Michele and Pietro Ferrero” Hospital in Verduno, which replaced the two hospitals in Alba and Bra.
An integrated management
In conjunction with this new opening, a multi-professional and multi-dimensional management project of Multiple Sclerosis was launched, involving the Multiple Sclerosis Center and the Rehabilitation and Psychology services. “This reorganization – explains Michele Dotta, Director of the Complex Structure of Neurology at the Asl CN2 Alba-Bra – aims at an integrated management of the person with Multiple Sclerosis, in the various aspects of assistance, thanks to the cooperation of professionals committed to its care “.
The hospital as a reference center
The place where the treatment takes place is represented by the hospital, home to clinics, day hospitals and rehabilitation gyms. “Historically – continues Dotta – patient management has always been centered on the hospital, where professional skills and technologies are available to manage a disease that presents aspects of high diagnostic and therapeutic complexity”.
New treatment paths
Now, thanks to the StayHome project, it is possible to broaden the patient’s reference horizon. “This project – emphasizes Dotta – represents an opportunity to develop our organizational model, structuring paths that go beyond the hospital and bring the different professionals close to the patient, optimizing the response to the needs in the different phases of the disease”.
Home assistance
Thanks to the advent of new therapies and their increasingly precocious use, the scenario of the disease has completely changed: “Today the person with Multiple Sclerosis is very often young, active, socially engaged, at work and in family life, they need to hire drugs on an ongoing basis and the need for continuous monitoring ”, notes the neurologist. Many therapies can also be taken at home: “In these patients – explains Dotta – it is important to have an organization that allows them to interact with the Multiple Sclerosis Center and with the various professionals without having to go to the hospital”.
Rehabilitation
Even people with disabilities, for whom travel is more complicated, can benefit from a home setting: “I am thinking, for example, of rehabilitation and telerehabilitation, in which, in addition to comfort for the patient and his family, it is important that the physiatrist and physiotherapists take a look at the environment in which the person lives, to adapt therapies and aids ”, continues the head of the Alba Center.
The management of complications
In the most advanced forms, a great benefit derives from the possibility of treating complications at home, to reduce as much as possible uncomfortable and sometimes harmful hospital admissions for immunosuppressed people. “In this context – explains Dotta – a fundamental role is played by the general practitioner and family and community nurses, in a virtuous model in which they interact and collaborate with the specialists who treat the patient”.
Listening
In Alba, the StayHome project is in its initial stages of analysis and recognition. “All the professionals involved are sharing their experiences, initiatives and expectations, in order to develop proposals for strengthening and innovation in home care for people with Multiple Sclerosis”, says Dotta. The next step will be represented by the involvement of all the operators that revolve around the patient, both in the territorial and hospital context, to bring the planning phase into reality and practice.
The role of new technologies
Also in this reality we want to treasure the experience of the pandemic to develop and implement strategies capable of adapting and overcoming the difficulties that, unfortunately, have inevitably been experienced in the care and assistance of people suffering from chronic diseases. “A primary role – concludes Dotta – will be played by new technologies, in the context of the telemedicine projects that our ASL is carrying out. The implementation of technologies such as Telemonitoring, Television and Teleconsulting will be of great use in taking care of the patient at home ”. A gradual path of transformation that also sees the Patients Association in the foreground, with a role of facilitator alongside people with Multiple Sclerosis and their families, to support them in the use of new technological tools, overcome any initial limitations and obstacles and encourage full adaptation to new disease management models.