In recent years, the health sector has undergone numerous changes, particularly with regard to digitisation: think of the massive introduction of new digital technologies (medical records, electronic health record, etc.), and the recent telemedicine solutions (new digital communication tools between doctor and patient, artificial intelligence, etc.) used to ensure continuity of care in the local area (a care setting ‘rediscovered’ and enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic).
The use of these technologies has consequently generated an enormous availability of data and information: the term Big Data is now well known to all and companies are trying to make the most of Data Science applications in the healthcare sector.
The management of these data flows, their correct analysis, the timely interpretation and the immediate availability of information and data, are also crucial factors for healthcare facilities, both from a clinical point of view, to ensure the best patient care, and from a management point of view, to optimise the available resources and to support the decision making process. This can bring about greater efficiency in organisations, increasing the performance of processes and preserving an acceptable degree of sustainability.
Not only was it essential to re-engineer the processes of care and treatment within hospitals and locally in critical and emergency situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic ; but it will also be necessary to redesign processes and new sustainable models of care on the basis of the available data and their correct analysis and interpretation, also considering the great opportunity offered by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the Healthcare Datascience LAB – HD LAB, Emergencies, Technologies and Beyond, is to integrate the fundamentals of data science and data management with those of organisation and operations. Together with a process-oriented vision in healthcare, it will enable the provision of knowledge and skills on the use of big data to practitioners, with practical and up-to-date answers, so that they can make informed decisions based on real-world data.
Healthcare Datascience LAB – HD LAB aims to provide professionals in the sector with the appropriate technological equipment to improve the output of their work, increase personal and professional empowerment and optimise the processes and performance of their work place. It also provides training opportunities in the digital approach, supported by workshops and training courses designed according to the needs of the various professionals who can further develop relational, multidisciplinary, critical thinking and experiential skills.
Healthcare Datascience LAB – HD LAB also promotes sharing the results of research projects on healthcare management topics through scientific and popular publications.
Healthcare Datascience LAB – HD LAB, Emergencies, Technologies and Beyond is aimed at professionals who, in various capacities, work in the Health Care and Socio-Health Care Sector (clinical, administrative, management, sector extraction), operators of companies producing technologies in the health care sector (drugs, electro-medical devices, digital technologies, etc.), Management Engineering students attending the Health Care System Management course, but also all other students interested in the health care and socio-health care sector.
RESEARCH
Starting from real-life problems reported by healthcare facilities, HD-LAB develops applied research projects. Based on the integration of the fundamental principles of data science and data management with organisational principles, linked to operations and process vision, these projects are able to provide timely answers, thanks to the analysis and critical reading of available data and information.
COLLABORATIONS
Healthcare Datascience Lab has set up collaborations for analysis and research with leading healthcare facilities in different regional settings.
HD Lab collaborates with numerous health facilities and companies and has set up a structured collaboration with Porini S.r.l., Artexe S.p.A., and with the Santi Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo Hospital in Alessandria.
The aim is to increase the number of collaborations and networks with new partnership models both with other universities and with other stakeholders (companies, healthcare facilities and individual professionals).
