Home // eTELEMED 2015, The Seventh International Conference on eHealth, Telemedicine, and Social Medicine // View article
Authors:
Kari Dyb
Conceição Granja
Stein Roald Bolle
Gunnar Hartvigsen
Keywords: elective surgery cancellations; pre-operative planning; e-readiness; electronic communication; health policy; hospitals; health care workers; Norway health care.
Abstract:
Surgery cancellations are undesirable in hospital settings. In order to reduce elective surgery cancellations at the University Hospital of North Norway, the eTeam-Surgery project studied the pre-operative planning to determine if part of the planning process could be moved from the hospital to the patient at home – through electronic collaboration. This paper discusses the actual readiness for electronic communication between patients and hospitals. In order to approach the readiness for electronic communication, the method section is divided in two parts. The first part consists of a documentary study of the most recent health reform in Norway, focusing on the readiness for using IT within the health care sector. In the second part, an in-depth empirical study of the pre-operative planning process at the hospital, is described. The results are reported in three analytical categories, according to the findings: a) Norwegian health policy; b) Health care workers at the hospital; c) The hospital as an entity. The authors’ conclusion is that while Norwegian health policy strongly promotes electronic collaboration, and health care workers are ready to use new tools, the hospital, as an entity, is not yet ready for electronic communication between patients and the hospital.
Pages: 26 to 30
Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2015
Publication date: February 22, 2015
Published in: conference
ISSN: 2308-4359
ISBN: 978-1-61208-384-1
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Dates: from February 22, 2015 to February 27, 2015