Holistic Digitalization of the Nursing Internship Process in the Federal State of Salzburg with Strong User Involvement.

BACKGROUND: In the federal state of Salzburg, the harmonization of nursing internship took place from 2014-2019 as a joint effort of educational and internship providers. Currently the handling of these mostly paper pencil-based documents involves a manual process through different institutions and people. OBJECTIVES: The project provides the basis for the implementation of the "internship platform". In the future, this is to be the digital, state-of-the-art one-stop shop for the state-wide practical nursing training (in the form of immanent internships) at all training levels. METHODS: The process is influenced by modern requirements engineering techniques: As-is analysis of the internship process and related documents, contextual inquires in different internship providers, iterative focus group discussions focusing first on user stories, then on interface designs, and final user testing. RESULTS: Standardized workflow and authorization concept for all user groups, mandatory requirements for the software system, tested user interfaces, tender documents for EU-wide tender procedure. CONCLUSION: Positive feedback from all involved user groups on project goal, results and involvement in the process.

Heart failure disease management programs in Austria 2019 : A systematic survey of the Heart Failure Working Group and the Working Group for Cardiological Assistance and Care Personnel of the Austrian Society of Cardiology.

Heart failure (HF) is common and is associated with high morbidity, mortality and high health expenditure. A multidisciplinary disease management plan (DMP) can reduce morbidity and mortality, save costs and improve the quality of life. In Austria, three HF-specific DMPs are currently in a project phase and four established DMPs are active. Although programs are widely heterogeneous with respect to their intervention type, they pursue the same interventional goal by supporting seamless care between inpatient and community care settings with a multidisciplinary team. This survey presents a systematic survey of the HF-specific DMPs in Austria. Disparities between programs are highlighted and discussed. The nationwide establishment of HF-specific DMPs that integrate primary care and cardiology services including a regulation of the remuneration of stakeholders and program infrastructure is needed to decrease the burden of HF for both the individual and society.