When a child is critically ill, they deserve the best possible care – regardless of where they live. But that is easier said than done: highly specialised paediatric units are not available everywhere, and the growing shortage of healthcare professionals makes comprehensive regional coverage increasingly difficult.

At a recent meet-up organised by Digitales Hannover, Dr. Michael Sasse from the MHH Department of Paediatrics outlined how this challenge can be approached: through close collaboration between specialised centres and smaller, decentralised hospitals – supported by telemedicine and AI-based decision tools. The Paediatric Intensive Care Network PIN, in which the MHH children’s clinic is involved, is a concrete example of how this model works in practice.

CAIMed is already working alongside the MHH paediatric team in this area. Together with the Peter L. Reichertz Institut für Medizinische Informatik, the groups involved are developing AI-supported tools designed to assist clinical staff and improve the quality of patient care – not as a replacement for human expertise, but as reliable support in the day-to-day clinical environment.

For CAIMed, participating in events like the Digitales Hannover meet-up reflects a deliberate approach: research only delivers its full value when it finds its way into practice – and that journey begins with conversation.