Christmas campaign of the Heart Association: The examination queues at the New Children’s Hospital’s heart department have more than doubled since 2022. The joint Christmas campaign of the Heart Association and the New Children’s Hospital Foundation funds the testing of a new smart stethoscope, which will get rid of unnecessary referrals.
It is rare for an individual doctor to come across a small patient’s heart murmur in primary care. Most of the side sounds are found to be harmless, but it is difficult for a regular doctor to tell. Often, small patients are sent to special medical care at the New Children’s Hospital for examinations. Up to 600 children come for follow-up examinations annually because of the completely harmless murmur. This ties up staff resources, causes extra worry for families and great costs for society – in the Helsinki region alone, we are talking about 300,000–400,000 euros annually.
“If these resources could be used for something else, that would of course be a great thing,” says Ilkka Jaakkola, a cardiologist at the New Children’s Hospital.
The Christmas fundraiser will fund, among other things, a smart stethoscope
The joint Christmas campaign of the Heart Association and the New Children’s Hospital Foundation brings tangible help to the situation of children with heart disease.
“The Heart Association collects funds in its Christmas campaign to improve the heart health and safety of all Finns, and this year especially for the treatment of children with heart disease at the New Children’s Hospital. This is a most beautiful Christmas present! I want to thank very much all the donors!“ says Jouni Lounasmaa, director of the New Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Donations are used to finance, among other things, the testing of a Finnish innovation, the smart stethoscope, in an authentic environment, as well as scientific research into the functionality of the device. An electronic stethoscope connected to a tablet uses an algorithm to identify harmful heart murmurs from innocent ones. Already at the moment, the device can recognize background sounds with more than 95% accuracy. The goal is that the device would work in primary health care as an aid to consultation and school doctors.
Ilkka Jaakkola, a cardiologist at the new children’s hospital, explains how the smart stethoscope works (in Finnish).
Take part in the Christmas collection on Heart Association’s website
By donating to the collection, you help to speed up access to treatment for children with heart disease and improve the heart health of Finns.
With donation funds:
- A project will be launched in cooperation with the New Children’s Hospital Support Foundation, piloting the use of a smart stethoscope developed in Finland. Nowadays, the scarce resources of the New Children’s Hospital are also used by perfectly healthy pediatric patients who have come for examinations to be sure because of a murmur heard from the heart. A new smart stethoscope can accurately distinguish harmful heart murmurs from innocent ones. If the experiment yields good results, resources can be saved in the future by sending only children who genuinely need treatment to treatment. At the same time, healthy children avoid unnecessary examinations.
- A new portable ultrasound device will be acquired to facilitate the care of cardiac children at the New Children’s Hospital.
- Let’s improve the heart health and safety of all Finns. Support is needed e.g. for supporting the sick, communicating about heart health and social influence work.