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eHealth 2006 in Malaga:
eHealth from north to south
Four speakers from the centre of expertise in Tromsø were invited to share Norwegian experience with experts from all over Europe.
Long experience in Norway
Norway is in the forefront in eHealth. Last year, the EU's eHealth conference was organized in Tromsø with the Ministry of Health and Care Services as host and the NST as technical organizer together with the Directorate for Health and Social Affairs. In Malaga, NST staff shared their experience from many years of work in telemedicine and eHealth with top European leaders. Norway also demonstrated several of its eHealth projects through the NST’s participation in the exhibition. Some 30 countries from all over Europe were represented at the conference.
Many opportunities
– “Applications and opportunities abound within eHealth,” explains Steinar Pedersen, who heads the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine in Tromsø.
– “Pensioners living in Spain will be able to keep in touch with their GP over the Internet; anxious parents of children who have diabetes can receive blood glucose measurements by SMS; soon you will be able to sit in front of the TV screen in your living room and get guidance and training from health staff at the hospital; and specialists can perform telesurgery.”
Motorway for health information
How can the EU achieve its objective of an integrated solution for eHealth by 2010? This was a key question in Malaga. The EU Commissioner for the Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, says that within two years the EU will have a plan for a shared European health network that can communicate across a variety of systems. Norway is far ahead in this connection, as Norsk Helsenett, the Norwegian health network, is already established and functions as a common motorway for exchanging health information at the national level. Most of the EU countries are still at the planning stage with their health networks.
Photo: The Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine in Tromsø presented several of its projects during the exhibition in Malaga. From left: Hilde Pettersen, Head of Information; Gunn-Hilde Rotvold, Programme Manager; Ernst Kloosterman, Programme Manager, and political scientist Eva Gjerdrum.
Better access
- “The EU conference is an important forum for minimizing geographic barriers and discussing the future challenges we share within health in Europe. Technology can improve the population's access to health services regardless of where they live. More than ever before, technology is involved in forming the health services of the future,” Steinar Pedersen points out.
As common as Internet banking
Several eHealth services currently used in Norway were remote possibilities only a decade ago.
- “Today, nobody thinks twice about our existence. Looking a few years into the future, contacting your GP by e-mail over the Net for simple health questions will be just as common as using an Internet Bank,” maintains Steinar Pedersen at the NST.
The speakers from the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine contributed the following presentations:
Steinar Pedersen, head of the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine
“Patient empowerment and the use of Internet”
Does access to medical information make people healthier or not? Is it a good idea to use the Internet to find health information? Does it place us in a position to take better care of our own health and master various life situations?
Tove Sørensen, head of the WHO Collaboration, Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine
European eHealth Trends: expectations, implications and actions
Presentation of a European population study, led by the NST, about habits and trends associated with the use of e-health services. Tove spoke about the significance of this type of information as a basis for decisions by authorities and other decision-makers.
Eva Gjerdrum, Coordinator at the NST
”Dealing with inequalities; 20 years of experience in eHealth”
The presentation dealt with disparities in access to the health service on the basis of where people live - in rural or urban areas - and how eHealth can compensate for imbalances. Eva shared her 20 years of telemedicine experience from Norway.
Ernst Kloosterman, Manager of the eHealth Consumer Programme, NST
"Long distance healthcare; Opportunities and barriers for telemedicine"
Specific examples of telemedicine services in use in Norway. Opportunities and barriers to future development.
You can download the presentations from the NST speakers here:
 Patient empowerment_Steinar PEderseneHealth Trends_Tove SørensenLong distance healthcare_Ernst KloostermanDealing with inequalities_Eva Gjerdrum |
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