"Doctor, I want to talk to you. Listen to me, I have cancer and so many needs "

(by Nicola Simonetti) But what needs can this sick person who feels alone, unheeded and revels in his own illness? First of all, he asks that the treatment process be humanized. And, then, other needs that iAMGENIUS summarizes in the "map of needs"

And it raises the flag of the start to the 24 marathon hours of digital creators to devise innovative solutions that can improve the treatment path.

Programmers, developers, web-designers, makers, appdeveloper, digitalexpert, data scientist challenge each other to devise the most innovative technological solutions able to humanize care pathways.

Listening, information, involvement, simplification, organization: these are the key words of the over 800 suggestions shared by oncology patients on iAMGENIUS, the digital advocacy initiative promoted by Amgen in collaboration with AIL and Europa Donna Italia, under the patronage of the AIOM Foundation, to meet the needs of patients with the talent of young creatives.

Cancer patients especially ask to be listened to and to be able to count on psychological support even remotely. They would like to use the web to establish a more direct and open dialogue with the oncologist. They would like chats where they could compare and share experiences. They expect digital resources to be used to simplify travel and booking visits and exams.

These are some of the most recurrent indications among the more than 800 suggestions of oncological patients collected within the iAMGENIUS, project that aims at humanizing the care pathways by giving voice to their needs and by making available to them the talent and creativity of young 'digital' .

The fulcrum of the initiative, the digital platform www.iamgenius.it through which between July and September Italian patients with solid or blood tumors could report the problems of their daily life that could be simplified with a digital tool.

Among the patients' requests, a techno-scientific jury selected those that are best suited to be translated into digital solutions, in the form of an app, portal, device, chatbot or software.

For the team with the best score will open the possibility to collaborate with the Amgen Innovation Hub in view of the development of the digital project.

iAMGENIUS has introduced in Italy an innovative model of participatory advocacy based on direct listening to patients and aimed at enhancing the potential of digital health to improve the quality of life of patients. Today, thanks to advances in the diagnosis and treatment of tumors, an important component of the oncological population faces a condition of chronicity and is destined to live with the disease for a long time. Therefore, making the care pathway more human becomes a crucial aspect, involving primarily patients and caregivers, together with the scientific community, industry and institutions.

Each of us, in the role of doctor, politician or pharmaceutical company can help to humanize medicine but politics must understand that the theme of humanization also involves that of resources because when the resources decrease they are penalized precisely the people who need to be follow well beyond the time of therapy like chronic patients or with disabilities - says Sen. Paola Binetti - a way in which politics can truly contribute to the humanisation of care is the investment in terms of scientific research that ensures the best overall care of the patient ".

The path identified by Amgen was to listen directly from patients what they need. "IAMGENIUS is an innovative program that has allowed to actively involve not only the actors of the health system, primarily patients, but different audiences, carriers of new perspectives and solutions to improve the quality of life of people suffering from oncological diseases, beyond the moment of therapy ”(André Dahinden, president and CEO of Amgen Italia.

In Italy, more than 3 million and 400.000 people live after a cancer diagnosis. Survival at 5 years has reached 63% for women and 54% for men, with an overall increase of 24% compared to 2010. New therapies, prevention and early diagnosis have allowed Italy to record a record reduction in mortality of cancer patients: -17,6% deaths in 15 years (2001-2016). But much remains to be done to adapt to the progress of treatment organization of health services, involvement and information to patients.

"Doctor, I want to talk to you. Listen to me, I have cancer and so many needs "

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