How a German university hospital UKSH used the BuddyCare platform to optimise Pain Clinic's care coordination

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Due to the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals needed to focus on seriously ill patients. Other patients, however, need to continue care but are faced visitation and treatment limits. Hospitals like UKSH needed digital communication and treatment solutions to ensure adequate care for all patients.

UKSH and Buddy Healthcare enabled ongoing remote patient care

We want to introduce a success story from Germany: the Pain Clinic of Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, implemented the BuddyCare platform just before the Coronavirus disease struck. Originally developed as a solution for the automation of care pathways, the BuddyCare platform was introduced in the form of the Pain Coach tool to improve patient care and minimise care personnel's administrative workload. The unexpected challenges of the pandemic have shown that the BuddyCare platform and PainCoach App can ensure continuous and contactless patient care despite clinic closures.

How does the remote care process work for the patient?

UKSH Pain Day Clinic patients use the PainCoach App from home or on the go. Patients could actively participate in their own care and treatment and receive easy-to-understand, timed instructions and support throughout the process. All important information, videos and documents were available around the clock in one place. Patients could complete in-App forms or feedback and submit them digitally for care personnel's review. The App also enabled the secure exchange of two-way messages between the patient and the clinic.

How does the remote monitoring dashboard work for care personnel?

The UKSH Pain Clinic’s care personnel followed the patients’ progress on their care pathways by monitoring the dashboard. A web-based clinical dashboard was a useful tool for collecting all necessary patient data, forms and feedback. The progress and activity of the patient were monitored by the treatment team at any time via the dashboard. If necessary, the treatment team of the Pain Day Clinic were available to its patients to discuss urgent questions personally over the phone.

Feedback from the UKSH Pain Clinic

Prof. Dr. med. Carla Nau, Director of the Clinic for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, said:

“With this digital therapy tool, our patients could continue their treatment. Without this mobile application, the current group of patients would have had to interrupt their care in the outpatient clinic. It can also accompany future pain patients while maintaining compliance with all current safety requirements.”


Simultaneously, the team at the Pain Day Clinic is working on a study to determine the effectiveness of the digital therapy. There are plans to introduce BuddyCare in other UKSH inpatient and outpatient departments in the future.

Read here on how to manage and monitor your chronic pain patients' care progress with the BuddyCare care coordination platform. 

Find the UKSH Press release in german here.