Nine out of ten Norwegians would like to communicate with their doctor over the Internet. So reveal the results of a survey conducted by the Norwegian Board of Technology ('the Board') among a sample of 1098 citizens. The Board unveiled the 'patients' electronic wish list': 85 % of the surveyed people want to be able to book their medical appointments on the Internet; 73 % wish to have their prescription of sick leave renewed online; 65 % would like to receive the results of blood test by electronic means; 50 % wish to apply for or receive referrals online; 43 % would appreciate asking questions on disease and health through the web. On the contrary, only 9.4 % of the sample does not want to communicate with their general practitioner (GPs) online.
In the document entitled 'eHelse: Pasienten på nett' ('eHealth: Patient on the Net', in English), the Board calls for a total digital upgrade of the healthcare system. The main lines of the recommendations are the following:
- Creation of a national health web portal by 2010 modelled after the portal of Denmark or the United Kingdom. It should be dialogue-based and include information on health, prevention and treatment as well as self-service solutions such as medical appointment booking, prescription renewal, access to case information and online forums.
- Patients should be granted an access to their electronic health records through a secured area of the health portal. This offer could start with basic items such as test results, referrals, points of contact and medical oversight. Then, the patients could benefit from expanded insight based on their wants. The Danish experience shows that patients are using such service and that it is constantly expanding.
The Board further explained that incentives and sanctions are needed to promote the offer of electronic consultations by Norwegian doctors, following the Danish example where financial incentives are in use and where practitioners can lose their licence if they do not propose online consultations. Significant economic savings are expected, e.g. in terms of transportation costs in a country such as Norway where the population is scattered over a relatively extensive territory.
Norwegian patients are free to choose the hospitals and the doctors they wish for their treatment. But in order to make informed choices, the patients need open and quality information connected to each treatment site. At the moment, no such system exists. "Both the quality of the treatment and the other patients' feedback may constitute important information. General indications do not suffice (...) and patients cannot suitably make choices about their treatment" said Tore Tennøe, the Director of the Norwegian Board of Technology.
The other measures proposed by the Norwegian Technology Board consist of:
- Dialogue and Electronic Therapy: Chronic disease patients may benefit from better treatment and increased quality of life through the use of monitoring devices at home and online dialogue with their doctor.
- Privacy and transparency: The patients should have access to their data on their own records with encryption and access control, so as to contribute to securing their own data and privacy.
- Patient communities: The public health system should offer secured online patient networks for major diagnostic groups, for the concerned patients to share experiences and discuss with others in similar situations.
- Patient participation in research: network solutions with a digital signature should be set up so that patients can more easily manage their consent the frame of medical research.
"The ambition for healthcare is to put patients at the centre. The Internet is perfect for this. People want electronic relations with their doctor. Experiences from other countries show that information, self-service and dialogue on the Internet can improve treatment and prove profitable." said Tore Tennøe.
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Quelle/Source: epractice, 18.05.2010
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