Improving patient education and informed consent - EIDO Healthcare collaborates with Thieme to enter the Indian market
Stuttgart, January 2022 – Thieme and EIDO are working together to improve patient education in India. The collaboration sees Thieme assume responsibility for sales and marketing activities in the Indian market for EIDO’s INFORM Consent Suite (ICS) – a collection of over 400 procedure-specific, patient education documents for informed consent in surgery – and EIDO’s digital consent solution. Thieme India is a well-established digital health service provider and partner for health information processes in the Indian clinical market. EIDO Healthcare, a British company, is already present in Europe, Australia, North America and Africa, and will expand its Asian operations through this collaboration.
Thieme established its business in India in 2007 and operates across the country through its sales teams and distribution networks. “That expertise is what we want to use together with EIDO Healthcare to contribute to better medicine and healthier lives,” explains Ajit Kohli, Managing Director Thieme India. “We see a need for a comprehensive digital product portfolio for professional patient education and obtaining informed consent in India and believe there is a significant opportunity for EIDO INFORM.”
Alistair Firth Chief Executive, EIDO Healthcare emphasises: “Treatment decisions should always be taken together with well-informed patients.” This is the reason why the medico-legal compliant content of EIDO INFORM has been prepared to explain the upcoming procedure in a manner that is both comprehensive and easy to understand. The informed consent patient information documents cover pre-operative preparation as well as detailing the individual steps involved, possible risks and aftercare. “Not only does this provide peace of mind for patients, it also helps to protect the clinicians performing the procedure, since they can document EIDO’s complementary explanation of the procedure with the signed consent form,” Alistair Firth points out.
The informed consent documents are available both digitally and in print in English, Hindi and Marathi, with more local languages to follow. In addition to the written consent sheets, EIDO INFORM Digital also provides animations that illustrate the operation. Patients can write down their questions for the clinician directly in the cloud-based app for their in-person appointment. The clinician can also see how intensively patients have engaged with the content, since the system tracks usage time. The EIDO INFORM Home Consent function allows patients to insert their digital signature from the comfort of their home, confirming that they have been thoroughly informed in advance of the pending operation.
Thieme India is supporting EIDO Healthcare’s entry into the Indian market and has begun sales and marketing activities for EIDO INFORM.