The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread, including in Berlin. More and more people need to be examined and the demand for SARS-CoV-2 testing increases. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is launching its ‘CovApp’ in an effort to further improve the services provided by its dedicated Examination Unit.
Charité is committed to ensuring that, even during the current dynamic situation, patients continue to receive optimal medical care. To this end, it has been working with the Potsdam-based nonprofit organization Data4Life to develop its new CovApp. The CovApp uses a questionnaire-based risk assessment, which can be completed at home. It helps the user decide whether or not they should visit the Examination Unit and whether they should be tested for SARS-CoV-2. The responses provided as part of this assessment can then be sent to Charité via a QR code, which is anonymous, with the relevant information processed and stored on the user’s device. The CovApp also provides the user with information on how to reduce their risk of infection.
“The CovApp helps us to protect both our patients and our staff. Given the high level of demand experienced by our Examination Unit, it is vital that individuals with symptoms not indicative of SARS-CoV-2 are not placed at risk. Similarly, it is essential that patients in need of testing are swabbed as quickly as possible,” explains Prof. Dr. Ulrich Frei, Charité’s Chief Medical Officer.
The CovApp is a browser-based application and can be accessed via https://covapp.charite.de/.
Explaining the reasons behind his organization’s involvement, Data4Life CEO Christian-Cornelius Weiß says: “As a nonprofit organization, it is both our privilege and our duty to provide our expertise and resources at a time of such pressing need, and to do our utmost to help both improve the situation facing us as a result of the current pandemic and minimize the risks involved.” He adds: “We are extremely pleased to be working with Charité, one of largest and most important university hospitals in Europe.”
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, boasting approximately 100 departments and institutes spread across 4 separate campuses. The hospital offers a total of 3,001 beds and, in 2018, treated 152,693 in- and day-case patients in addition to 692,900 outpatients.
At Charité, the areas of research, teaching and medical care are closely interlinked. With approximately 18,000 members of staff employed across its group of companies, Charité is one of the largest employers in Berlin. More than 4,500 of its employees work in the field of nursing, with a further 4,300 working in research and medical care.
In 2018, the organization recorded a turnover of more than €1.8 billion and secured more than €170.9 million in external funding – a new record for Charité. Charité’s Medical Faculty is one of the largest in Germany, currently educating and training more than 7,500 medical and dentistry students. Charité also offers 619 training positions across 9 different health care professions.
https://www.charite.de/en
Data4Life
D4L data4life gGmbH (www.data4life.care) is a nonprofit organization with over 100 employees at 5 locations, originating as a research project at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH (under the name Gesundheitscloud) and funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation. Data4Life wants to make a meaningful contribution to improving healthcare by developing and operating IT infrastructures and digital services for the management and analysis of health data and by applying algorithms to the research of diseases and evaluation of treatment methods. Data4Life was certified as ISO 27001 compliant in July 2019. The certification process is based on the ‘IT-Grundschutz’ approach, with certification awarded by the Federal Office for Information Security. D4L data4life gGmbH was founded at the end of 2017 with headquarters in Potsdam, Germany. The managing director is Christian-Cornelius Weiß.
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Contact
Manuela Zingl
Corporate Spokesperson
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
t: +49 30 450 570 400
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