After the success of the DRAGON project, the ERS CONNECT Clinical Research Collaboration (CRC) has been established to continue work on the theme of digital healthcare.

The CRC aims to develop a multidisciplinary network focussed on implementing digital respiratory healthcare.

A key focus of the network is on topics highlighted by individuals from the COVID-19 Patient Advisory Group that supported the DRAGON project. In workshops during DRAGON, patients were keen to use apps to monitor and learn about their condition, access timely advice and reduce travel time for consultations. They were interested in using remote monitoring and consultations to develop new kinds of relationships with their healthcare team, and to maintain disease control. They wanted to understand how their data could be used by others but had concerns about data privacy and security.

With regards AI, they are keen for it to be used to improve their care, but in partnership with their HCP and transparently.

CONNECT will enable knowledge exchange, create a repository of available respiratory technologies, promote standardised approaches to implementation research in digital healthcare, develop publications on barriers and enablers to deployment at scale, and plan research that will inform, develop and evaluate implementation of digital respiratory healthcare.

Key updates from this project will be shared here and on ERS and ELF channels.