Digital Innovation: To Practice Physical Activity, e-Health

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  Physical Activity prescription in an integrated NCDs risk factors management at obese patients

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  Cover_page

Team leader: Vera Simovska-Yarevska Email: hepa.mk@yahoo.com

"DIGITAL INNOVATION: TO PRACTICE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, E-HEALTH"

Inspiration and analysis: Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for NCDs worldwide as well as in the Republic of North Macedonia. URL<http://www.globalphysicalactivityobservatory.com/Country%20cards/Macedonia,%20FYR%20card.pdf. Primary health care (PHC) plays a critical role to engage individuals in physical activity (PA). Lack of clinical guidelines, protocols for education to practice PA at PHC level, and the absence of clear algorithms for high-risk individuals remain vague.

OUR KEY IDEA is to provide support for the development and implementation of an electronic tool for health (e-Health) integrating a multidisciplinary team consisting of primary health care (PHC) physicians, sports medicine specialists, other medical, health, and sports professionals with engineers of information technology in creating the greater synergy between sport and health sector (Health-Enhancing Physical Activity, HEPA).

“Engaging in sport is one of the ways of being physically active and the sport has a great influence on the level of health-enhancing physical activity in the general population”.

INNOVATION SOLUTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed significant restrictions on in-person elective medical care, shifting much of sports medicine practice to e-Health. 1 - Support for the development and evaluation of web-based interventions to enhance sports participation and to increase physical activity level (PAL) during and after the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to social distancing as digital innovation for health promotion, health risk reduction, and better quality of life, on the dependence on the local context; 2 - To improve general health, wellbeing, and psychological outcomes by the utility of person-centered data for sport and physical activity using digital tools. Collaboration between PHC and preventive sports medicine centers with the Federation of Sports Pedagogues, the National Sports Associations, and the Olympic Committee is an essential multidisciplinary collaboration for promoting the sport, physical activity, and contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

THE GOALS OF OUR IDEAS:

I. AT THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: Our project is focused on individual and team sports which are recognized as a vital activity for health promotion, many chronic and infectious diseases prevention during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Exercise-induced physiological stress has an influence on immune function. MVPA bouts of 30 min to 60 min stimulate the exchange of immune cells between lymphoid tissues and the circulation. In contrast, participating in unusually high exercise workloads with the associated physiological stress is linked to transient immune dysfunction. The COVID-19 crisis requires a flexible approach to sport and physical activity based on the need for social distancing combined with changes to personal demands and environments. Overcoming obstacles is key to optimizing overall physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic should be viewed as an opportunity to expand our approach to prescribing physical activity. Increasing the use of digital platforms has improved health care delivery and an individual’s engagement. PHC and sports medicine physicians can similarly use e-Health to connect with athletes, physically active and sedentary individuals, and patients on issues relating to wellbeing, sport, and physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. The inclusion of sport and physical activity in the PHC, and preventive sports medicine centers which are accessible for everybody;
2. To create and evaluate the possibility of implementing an electronic tool for health (e-Health) for PHC physicians, sports medicine specialists from the preventive health centers, and other health professionals that will be a support for the promotion of sport and HEPA;
3. To develop a software tool for objectively estimated cardiorespiratory capacity (VO2max), physical activity level (PAL) using a questionnaire, morphological status and health of athletes, and physically active and sedentary individuals;
4. To develop an innovative digital platform for data collection to monitor the prevalence of physical activity and sports participation, cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), PAL, and mental health on population-level;
5. Special attention on the role of football in strengthening multicultural tolerance and integration, youth education for their personal and societal skills development: multi-ethnic/multi-religious and social inclusion, through football as the most popular sport in the Republic of North Macedonia;
6. To develop a new web-based planning intervention to enhance sports participation and physical activity by the PHC physicians and sports medicine specialists, other medical and health professionals. Using the visual model in form of "Pyramid for sport, physical activity, and health", as well as "Exergames" accessible at home-based environments via devices like smartphones, smart TV, and tablet, it could provide opportunities for the use of self-assessment games into more personalized monitoring tools.
7. To create and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for data integration, analyzing and health risk prediction;
8. To create and implement a new web-based educational module (e-Learning) on how to enhance sports participation, and PAL for better health to support the medical and health professionals in Lifelong Learning (LLL);
9. To develop a new web-based educational module (e-Learning) to educate citizens and all interested parties on population-level to empower their participation in sport and physical activity focused on the importance of following regular preventive sports medicine examination, prescription of PA, and counseling by specialists of sports medicine, PHC physicians, and other medical and health professionals during and after COVID-19 pandemic;
10. To facilitate the transformation of health care services to more digitised with a person-centered care model, in which the citizens can be asked to fulfill questionnaires’ about their sports and physical activity, and nutrition needs related to their health, facilitating the communication and collaboration with physicians;
11. To develop policy guidelines for regulatory decision and recommendations for physicians, health and sports professionals on a local and national level;
12. Study on the efficacy of e-Health applicability in the health care system through multidisciplinary collaboration among physicians, other medical, health, and sports professionals.

II. PUBLIC SPACES for exercise and sport during and after COVID-19 pandemic: The goals in front of cities are ensuring the safety and health of citizens by introducing new regulations for physical distance and providing places where people can be physically active.

1. To support the free participation of citizens in their free time how to apply physical activity and sports in public places;
2. To introduce the new regulations for physical distance and provide places where people can be physically active and safe;
3. To collect data on high-quality public spaces for physical activity and sport (parks, sports fields, educational institutions, kindergartens, and others);
4. To design of reopened spaces with social distance and to make a strategy with post-COVID 19 data;
5. To involve the City Council as part of community development by creating multi-sector groups.

TARGET GROUPS: Children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly (over 65 years), in addition to healthcare staff, and other health and sports professionals, who will be involved in promoting educational activities at the athletes, and the citizens on a population level.

CONTRIBUTIONS to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 16, and 17): The digital transformation of health and community-based care model should allow developing the digital health economy, better health, and adequate education during and after the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, SDG 4 - Quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and SDG 17 - Partnership for the goals.

THE RESOURCE NEEDED: To evaluate and practical implement this idea for the inclusion of sport and physical activity monitoring, health promotion, and counseling into PHC and preventive sports medicine centers is a high priority in the national health development agenda (WHO).

• To evaluate and practical implement this idea in the health care system is needed multisectoral collaboration between the PHC physicians in private/public health care, sports medicine institutions, and the sports sector;
• At the national level, the Ministry of Health is a key responsible governmental institution in collaboration with Sports Agency;
  • Relevant stakeholders: Management of PHC and preventive sports medicine facilities;
  • Multidisciplinary partnerships: collaboration with engineers of information technology to introduce virtual patients (e-health), and to develop web-based planning interventions in PHC and preventive sports medicine;

PILOT Study: Electronic health tool (e-Health), the prototype of digital software, and web-based educational tool (e-Learning) will be implemented in the “pilot” area: Central area of the city of Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.

Video: Introduction < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEbFPBkcgDo
Https://hepa.org.mk/videos/

How will build it? -To develop the web-based planning interventions related to PA in the PHC; -To analyse the technical challenges and solutions for offering health-related virtual patients and describe the models of virtual use by patients at high-risk individuals as well as at the population level;

• To examine the prevalence of physical activity and sport in post COVID-19 at the population level;
• To collect data on high-quality public spaces for PA (parks, sports fields, educational institutions, kindergartens, and others), to design of reopened spaces with social distance and to make a strategy with post-COVID 19 data; -To involve the City Councils as part of community development by creating multi-sector groups.

The challenges to our entering are the introduction of PA indicators, PA associated determinants and to create algorithms as part of the performance and quality assessment in PHC. The inclusion of PA services into PHC is a high priority in the national health development agenda. The challenges in front of cities are ensuring the safety and health of citizens by introducing new regulations for physical distance and providing places where people can be physically active.

In addition, the challenges to my entering are the consequences of a tennis International ADRIA Tours, held in June 2020 in Belgrade and Zadar after COVID-19 pandemic when the social distance was less important as a result of lowering the incidence of new cases on the Balkan.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of the collaboration with the WHO HEPA European network and the project team of the European funded project: "European Union Physical Activity and Sports Monitoring System" as a partner (www.eupasmos.com).

This project identifies the SDGs and ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. Especially it will contribute to reducing the NCD's morbidity and psychosocial stress through reducing biological determinants of PA.

What's next for "Digital Innovation: To Practice Physical Activity (PA), e-Health":

1. Study on the efficacy of e-Health applicability, and creating national/regional PA framework;
2. Population-level examination of PA prevalence and sport in post COVID-19 pandemic;
3. Design of reopened spaces with social distance;
4. Recommendations for PA and sport in public areas for a short time (short guidelines), as well as long term.

What I learned: Professional approach and strategy development as a specialist in “Sports Medicine”, with a subspecialty in "Hygiene of Nutrition for Healthy and Sick People", with PhD., University Professor for Nutrition, Sports Medicine and Health Management.

Built With

• english
• hepamacednia
• macedonian
• researchgate
• scope
• who