Laurea JobFest in Tikkurila serves as an annual meeting point for social and health care students and industry professionals. During last year’s event, Maria—who has since completed and published her thesis as part of her Public Health Nurse degree—began collaborating with HippocrAItes on a study focused on the development of digital services in health care. Alongside her nursing studies, Maria has broadened her expertise with IT studies and service design, giving her a well‑rounded perspective on evaluating digital services from both user‑centred and technical viewpoints.
The work of a public health nurse spans a wide range of responsibilities in promoting population health, including maternity and child health clinics, school health care and vaccinations. Maria emphasizes that digital tools support this work only when they are clear, reliable and easy to use. The user’s perspective is a decisive element in any development process.
“Digital services must be intuitive, and systems must work seamlessly together—only then do they genuinely support the everyday work of public health nurses,” Maria notes.
Maria’s thesis focused on HippocrAItes’ Hippo Health Account service. Hippo Health Account is a digital platform that collects a user’s health information into one view from various sources, such as electronic patient records and personal wellness data. An up‑to‑date, comprehensive health overview supports preventive care and health‑promoting nursing. The goal of the service is to make information management and sharing easier so that both health care professionals and users can access it smoothly and securely.
Maria’s research highlighted three main areas she believes should be considered when developing digital platforms:
Näränen’s thesis can be read here (in Finnish).
Maria says Laurea’s social sercives and nursing studies have given her valuable insight into the role of research and development in the field. She finds collaborations between universities of applied sciences and companies particularly valuable, as they bring perspectives to thesis work that cannot be gained through literature alone. According to her, working with HippocrAItes has been smooth and supportive: “Everything has gone flexibly and without complications. Solutions have always been found,” Maria describes.
Laurea’s UraFest offers students and companies a chance to network and find thesis collaboration partners. Register here.