EviPrev - EviPrev-IT
Project Abstract
Background
In Switzerland, 70% of all death is caused by chronic, non-communicable diseases. The main conditions are cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic lung failure and Diabetes. Another important cause of death is due to suicide. The mortality rate could substantially be reduced by preventive measures such evidence based screening programmes and adaptation of lifestyles. Studies have shown that health promotion and disease prevention programmes at primary care level are effective. Swiss general practitioners are however not equipped with proper instruments and guidance to systematically offer and deploy efficient preventive services. The programme 'EviPrev' (Evidence based prevention and health promotion for Swiss primary care) aims at providing the requisite know how and tools.
Objectives and Aims
EviPrev aims at anchoring a systematic health promotion and disease prevention programme at the primary care level in Switzerland. Multiple partners and actors in Switzerland contribute to this project; such as University Hospitals and institutes for primary care (see www.eviprev.ch). Swiss TPH consults EviPrev to set up and implement the Clinical Decision Support System.
Methods / Approaches
The main components comprise a) a guideline and overview on effective preventive measures according to age, sex and degree of evidence, b) a 'prevention card' enabling the systematic documentation of individual preventive measures and c) a clinical decision support system (CSSD) that calculates risk scores and produces individual health and risk status graphs for a patient centred counselling.
Results
Two studies (FocusPrev I and FocusPrev II) were conducted to validate the approaches suggested by EviPrev. The positive results about the relevance and feasibility of the project encouraged the stakeholders to engage in further developments, especially the realisation of the EviPrev Infomatics tool (CSSD).
Target Groups
Swiss general practitioners will be the first line actors to benefit from enhanced instruments to offer in a systematic manner health promotion services. Large parts of the Swiss population are seen as end line beneficiaries as systematic disease prevention and health promotion programmes will reduce the burden of diseases.
Further lines of action / next steps
The project is at a stage where the new approaches are piloted and continously improved. A wide scale implementation of EviPrev in Swizerland is foreseen.
Other important information
EviPrev with its informatics component ties into the eHealth strategy of the Swiss government to enhance efficiency, quality and patient centred heath care through the application of information and communication technologies (http://www.e-health-suisse.ch).
