Telenor Xpress 4 - 2000

The Digital
DOCTOR

Why are curious health care professionals from all over the world flocking to a hospital in Northern Norway?

Under a sky where daylight appears for but a few brief hours at about mid-day, the residents of Northern Norway are not only surviving but thriving during the long winters. Here, on the edge of the Arctic wilderness, Telenor Research and Development is pilot testing telemedicine solutions — an exciting new technology that enables public health services to save money and improve patient care.

MULTIPLE CHALLENGES
As early as in 1988, Telenor R&D initiated a telemedicine project in co-operation with Tromsø University. Two years ago, the project team decided to conduct pilot projects in the fields of home nursing and remote surgery. But according to Eivind Rinde, manager of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in the Health Sector at Telenor, the project faces technological as well as organisational challenges.

“In the health sector, reliability is crucial. The systems must be foolproof, and backup solutions must be easy to implement. Also, organisation and technology must be adapted to each other. With the recent establishment of the Northern Norwegian Health Network, and with plans for a national health network around the corner, we are well on our way to finding solutions that allow the technology to be used efficiently,” Rinde says.

VIRTUAL CONSULTATIONS OVER THE INTERNET
Accessing telemedicine technology via next generation Internet is one of Telenor R&D team’s major projects. Their primary objective is to gain knowledge and experience in applying the new technology to existing and future medical procedures. The system also lends itself to teaching and training.

ICT IN HOME NURSING
Home nursing is labour intensive. It is important to minimise the time spent on administration and maximise the time spent on patient care. The home nursing service in Alta, a town in Northern Norway, has recently implemented a newly developed mobile information and communications system, which enables the nurses making house calls to communicate with the health centre using portable notebook computers. The nurses record patient data directly and have immediate access to reference books and special expertise.

There can be no doubt that the professional medical community of Tromsø and Alta are pioneers in the field of telemedicine. Last autumn when the Regional Hospital in Tromsø began using its new, fully digital X-ray system, observers came from as far afield as Australia and the United Arab Emirates.



Text by: Marius Revold and Gunnar Falck-Ytter