Distance Education and Social Learning in e-Health

Abstract

In the context of chronic diseases, in order to guarantee a good quality of life, education is as important as the patient's adherence to a specific therapy. Learning and training processes in these contexts has a dual purpose, on the one hand, to make the patient empowered in order to allow him to recognize the behaviors that might compromise her/his health and, secondly, to train non-specialist medical and paramedical staffs on the procedures for diagnosis and patients follow-up to provide an high quality service. In this context the UBICARE project aims at creating a system that favors the de-hospitalization of patients suffering from peritoneal dialysis and chronic heart failure. The paper describes how the e-learning can be fruitful for patient and medical staff training.