GERAS+: Co-Designing a Web-Based Platform for Clinical Support, Education, and Community Engagement in Geriatric Care

Background: In Latin America, frail older adults with multiple chronic conditions often have limited access to (fragmented) specialised healthcare services. The GERAS+ project aims to help improve the quality of care and well-being of older persons through an open-access digital platform offering training, digital tools, and educational resources tailored for primary healthcare teams, patients, and caregivers.

 

Approach: During this 3-year project, a transdisciplinary team, which included representatives of patients and family carers, designed the different project sections and topic themes. The platform development followed a user-centred and interoperable design approach.

 

From the outset, stakeholders participated in different activities -workshops and iterative feedback sessions- that guided content prioritization, workflow organization, and interface decisions to ensure usability across different literacy, cultural, and resource settings. Each major component is evaluated by a specific research protocol, with pre defined process and outcome indicators that unfold according to the project’s timeline.

 

Results: The platform has two main target audiences: the general community (patients, family and carers, and older persons in general for healthy ageing promotion); and primary healthcare professionals.

The latter can access clinical decision support systems (CDSS) for the most common geriatric problems. Firstly, 25 problems were prioritised. Videos, educational material, and management algorithms were developed for all of them, focusing on differences according to functional status/frailty.

Then, stakeholders agreed to select 8 topics for the initial development of the CDSS. This system enables the input of clinical data and generates tailored recommendations, following predefined rules to ensure clinical accuracy and relevance.

A pilot assessment used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which evaluates three key dimensions: ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intent to use. It yielded a median score of 6 out of 7. The System Usability Scale (SUS) evaluation showed an overall positive perception of the platform, with a score of 69, indicating a high marginal usability level with significant potential for improvement. The final interface was designed to enhance data completeness while delivering real-time, actionable recommendations to support decision-making at the point of care.

 

An Artificial Intelligence service is being developed to diagnose pressure ulcers, interoperating with the CDSS. It will be finished by mid-2026, when the full platform will be available.

The educational component includes a free, virtual, self-paced graduate university course. It focuses on the management of frail older persons at home, designed for the primary care team. So far, 1,299 participants have enrolled.

The material for the general community includes a similar basic training course for family carers. In the first 3 months, 340 students enrolled. In addition, 38 captioned and narrated videos were created, with special attention to accessibility (for users with limited hearing, vision, or literacy). They focus on education and self-management activities.

 

Implications: The iterative co-creation with all stakeholders is central to achieving relevance, usability, and sustainability, aligned with person-centred care. This free open platform facilitates its adoption, scalability, and the overcoming of access barriers (economic, temporal, and geographical) in Latin America.