LICA - Linked Care

The aim of the four-year Austrian Linked Care project is to ensure the continuous provision of information in mobile care and support through development of a comprehensive digital system. Involving nurses, caregivers, therapists and doctors as well as people in need of care and their relatives in the development of a documentation and communication platform allows all of the people and organisations involved in the care process to be linked together.

The interfaces of the innovative digital system with ELGA, as well as medical and pharmacy software, help to avoid multiple health-related client data records. The elaboration of standards and the involvement of all relevant target groups based on a user-centred design approach enable practical IT tools to be developed for standardised networking. The result will be an affordable and easy-to-use IT system for the team around the client. This can be operated via a mobile device, PC or tablet.

The intention is for Linked Care to use a digital platform throughout the whole of Austria to map indicators of the current state of health, a description of the scope of services (e.g. the need for nursing and care) and a description of current changes in an interdisciplinary manner. Network-building measures are aimed at initiating the necessary cooperation between all of the stakeholders involved, establishing this in practice and making it a stable process through structured forms of cooperation.

Complex everyday procedures, processes and challenges in mobile care and assistance were visualised through a comprehensive needs assessment and environment analysis. The identified requirements for a digital system provide the basis for the further development of Linked Care. Thereby, the challenge of meeting the heterogeneous needs of the different target groups is accepted.

The main focus for the evaluation phase of the project will be on demonstrating a clear improvement in comprehensive communication in the mobile nursing and care setting and between all stakeholders involved in the care process.

The efficient interdisciplinary exchange of information enables high-quality care and support for people in their own homes and therefore makes a valuable contribution to the well-being of all those affected as well as their relatives and people close to them. The open source solution will support access to information and communication technologies for everyone involved in the care process. As such, Linked Care particularly addresses the Sustainable Development Goals 3 "Good health and well-being" and 9 "Industry, innovation and infrastructure".

Consortium leader

• FH Campus Wien Forschungs- und Entwicklungs GmbH (F&E GmbH)

Additional consortium partners

• myneva Austria GmbH
• Loidl-Consulting & IT Services GmbH
• HCS Health Communication Services GmbH
• Österreichische Apotheker-Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H.
• Compugroup Medi-cal CGM
• Steszgal Informationstechnologie GmbH
• Akademie für Altersforschung am Haus der Barmherzigkeit
• Volkshilfe Gesundheits- und Soziale Dienste GmbH
• Wiener Rotes Kreuz- Rettungs-, Krankentransport-, Pflege- und Betreuungsgesell-schaft m.b.H. 
• Volkshilfe Wien gemeinnützige Betriebs-GmbH
• Johanniter Österreich Ausbildung und Forschung gem. GmbH
• FH Technikum Wien
• Universität Wien – Institut für Ethik und Recht in der Medizin