TIC Salut Social Foundation helps create well-trusted health and wellness apps, during its Hello World! Day

• The TIC Salut Social Foundation (FTSS), an organisation belonging to the government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Health, held its Hello World! Day, which took place this morning at the TecnoCampus in Mataró, to present its accreditation model for mobile applications in healthcare and social welfare environments.
• The aim is to guide developers and professionals in the field of mobile innovation in creating trusted apps for professionals and the public.
• The participants received advice on how to create an application intended for use in healthcare and social welfare, such as successfully negotiating the IHSF accreditation process or what needs to be done in order that their app is chosen by a healthcare system.

Last Friday (11^th May), the TIC Salut Social Foundation held its Hello World! Day at the TecnoCampus Congress Centre in Mataró. The foundation presented its accreditation model for mobile applications related to Healthcare and/or Social Welfare, together with presentations, workshops and careers advice for all the attendees in practical matters related to the creation of trusted apps in these environments.

The day was officially opened by the Director of the TIC Salut Social  Foundation, Dr Francesc Garcia Cuyàs. Then followed a series of presentations by professionals and experts from the Healthcare, Social Welfare and Technology sectors. They gave information as to the accreditation model, who participates in it, as well as discussing some positive experiences and the results of the AppSalut Website pilot test involving professionals from the sectors. The day concluded with workshops in which the attendees and participants were invited to visit different spaces in which they were given practical advice by members of the TIC Salut Social Foundation and other experts. The topics included advice on how to design a mobile application for healthcare and social welfare, how to successfully negotiate the FTSS accreditation process and the steps to take to ensure that an app is adopted by a healthcare system.

 Trusted apps for improving health and wellbeing

Mobile applications aimed at improving people’s health and wellbeing have been on the market for some time now, however, they often come without any form of guarantee for the user, which means doctors are often reluctant to prescribe them to their patients. The TIC Salut Social Foundation created its accreditation model in order to address this problem, thereby offering mobile applications for healthcare and social welfare that users can trust.

During the Hello World! Day, mobile app developers in the healthcare and social welfare environments, software development companies and professionals working in the area of mobile innovation, among others, were able to learn about the accreditation model and how it can be obtained, thanks to presentations from professionals such as Dr Mireia Sans, a GP, Healthcare Director at Comte Borrell CAP [Centro de Atención Primaria- a community health centre] and President of the Official College of Physicians of Barcelona’s eHealth section; Alèxia Pérez, manager of COPLEFC [El Col·legi de Llicenciats en Educació Física i Ciències de l’Activitat Física i l’Esport de Catalunya– The College of Graduates of Physical Education and Sciences of Physical Activity and Sports of Catalonia]; Juan Cuello, Pasiona’s head of mobile technology and Jordi Serratosa Carbonell, the Taula d’Entitats del Tercer Sector’s [Board of Voluntary Organisations] coordinator of its m4Social project. “Taking experts on physical activity into account when developing health environment applications is, from our point of view, key”, stated Pérez, director of COPLEFC, an organisation that has recently increased its presence in the ICT sector in order to keep pace with the new environment.

Dr Zulema Sainz Beltran, a GP at the Ildefons de Cornellà de Llobregat CAP; Isabel Garcia Mercader, a nurse and member of the management team at the Vinyets CAP, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Dr Mónica Valverde Castillo, a GP on the management team at the Sant Andreu de la Barca CAP and its director, Glòria Jodar, spoke of their experiences of participating in the AppSalut Website pilot project, a library of apps for the healthcare and social welfare sector that aims to encourage the public to take an interest in their own health.

Finally, the attendees had a chance to find out about the real impact of the introduction of the ICT Social Health Foundation’s accreditation model for mobile apps with a presentation on the success of the Infermera Virtual [Virtual Nurse] App, given by Marc Fortes, a nurse and director of the Official College of Nursing of Barcelona’s (COIB) Virtual Nurse Project. The app, aimed at the promotion of health education, was the first to successfully complete the entire mobile app accreditation process.

Finally, Dr Jordi Martínez, the TIC Salut Social Foundation’s Director of Innovation, was in charge of bringing the day to a close.