Digital Health Summit 2021: Digital respiratory medicine – realism vs futurism - ERS

The European Respiratory Society (ERS) Presidential Summit 2021, ‘Digital respiratory medicine – realism vs futurism’, took place virtually from 3–4 June. The Summit sought to define the innovations that are realistic for digital respiratory medicine in the here and now, as well as those that are to be considered aspirational and futuristic.

On day one of the Summit, we examined the current digital tools that can be used in respiratory healthcare. Day two of the Summit focused on growth areas and future aspects of digital health, such as big data and artificial intelligence, ethical considerations, regulation, and policy. Catch up on all of the sessions:

ERS Presidential Summit 2021 scene setter

Summit opening – Anita Simonds, ERS President and Thierry Troosters, ERS Past President
Keynote address – Creating a realistic digital roadmap: lessons learned from cardiology – Martin Cowie, King’s College London

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Theme I: The virtual world

Lessons from virtual ward – COVID-19 and new models of care for our respiratory patients and workforce – Sarah Sibley, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital
Virtual pulmonary and COVID-19 rehabilitation – Sally Singh, University of Leicester

Theme II: Wearables and apps

Patient wearables – how effective are they? – Andrea Aliverti, Politecnico di Milano
Wearables, sports and health – Ioannis Vogiatzis, Northumbria University
What have we learnt from contact tracing apps? – Vitalii Poberezhets, National Pirogov Memorial Medical University
How can digital techniques improve the lives of patients? Barriers and solutions – Kjeld Hansen, Chair of the European Lung Foundation

Theme III: Virtual/multimodal education, communication skills

How to care for and communicate with patients digitally – Hilary Pinnock, University of Edinburgh
Digital approaches to promote adherence to treatments and patient education – Omar Usmani, Imperial College London
Digital training programmes – the best of new resources – Maxime Patout, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire APHP-Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière

Theme IV: Digital health and innovation

Digital home resources in clinical trial management – Marlies Wijsenbeek, Erasmus MC
How can digital health drive value based healthcare? – Jim Hollingshead, ResMed
Addressing digital exclusion – Kjeld Hansen, Chair of the European Lung Foundation
Digital health and data use – Michael Strübin, MedTech Europe

Roundtable discussion

Anita Simonds, ERS President
Thierry Troosters, ERS Past President
Hilary Pinnock, University of Edinburgh and Head of ERS Assembly 1

Theme V: Ethics, equity, and regulation

Towards a more effective Health Union: Digitalisation and the European Health Data Space – Pierre Delsaux, Directorate–General for Health and Food Safety
Human in the loop: strengths and weaknesses of AI-safety controls – Nikita Lukianets, Open Ethics
Digital respiratory medicine in the global health context: the case of TB – Dennis Falzon, World Health Organization

Theme VI: Artificial intelligence and big data

Decision Support Systems and patient management – Wim Vos, Radiomics
Harnessing big data for evaluation and regulation of medicines – Luís Correia Pinheiro, European Medicines Agency
Digital advances in disease surveillance and extended remit of ECDC – Pasi Penttinen, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

Realism vs Futurism – debate and takeaways

Panel discussion

Anita Simonds, ERS President
Marc Humbert, ERS President Elect
Wim Vos, Radiomics
Joanna Chorostowska–Wynimko, ERS Secretary General