Haraldsplass invests in more digital communication with patients and their families
About the article
- This article was originally published on haraldsplass.no on 20.01.2023, by Frida Urheim, Communications Director at Haraldsplass Diakonale Hospital, and we have been granted permission to reproduce it on our pages.
“Using digital measures, it is possible to follow a patient more closely without the patient having to attend hospital in person. The patient can be followed up at home, allowing the exchange of important information and saving both the patient and hospital time and resources.”
Petter Thornam, Specialist Director,
Haraldsplass
New ways of interacting
More and more patients need admission to hospital and follow-up at an outpatient clinic. This makes it more important than ever to streamline and improve the way we obtain data and how we communicate with patients.
Haraldsplass Diakonale Hospital has been working on increasing the use of digital solutions since 2018. Up until 2022, that work mainly concerned orthopaedic patients, but the hospital is now extending the use of digital measures (CheckWare) to more patient groups.
“Using a digital measure, it is possible to follow a patient more closely without the patient having to attend hospital in person.” The patient can be followed up at home, allowing the exchange of important information and saving the patient and hospital time and resources,” explains Petter Thornam, Specialist Director at Haraldsplass Diakonale Hospital.
Fewer communication channels
The Anaesthesia Department at the hospital has developed self-declaration forms to be filled in by all surgery patients. In consultation with Helsenorge (national digital health services in Norway), the supplier (CheckWare) and HVIKT (Helse Vest IKT), Haraldsplass started to send out the forms via the Helsenorge platform. This gives patients fewer channels of communication to deal with and the hospital can be more confident that the patient gets all the necessary information.
The Medical Department started sending out measures to patients with gastroenteritis problems, and to patients attending the Hypochondria Clinic in 2022. Haraldsplass is now starting to send out questionnaires to the next of kin of patients diagnosed with dementia.
“By involving the next of kin to patients with such diseases as dementia, we can get information in advance, and the clinician knows more about how the patient is functioning in the opinion of the next of kin before they attend an appointment,” explains Specialist Director, Petter Thornam.
Jannike Madsen is one of several Haraldsplass staff working with the ‘Digitalisation of Patient Follow-up at the Surgical Clinic’ project. She sees considerable benefits in the new solution. (Photo: Frida Urheim)
“Patients who contact us because they need something get a phone call from a nurse the same day. The hospital started using the solution in August, and we arere finding that the patients use it a lot, with feedback on user-friendliness being very positive.”
Petter Thornam,
Specialist Director, Haraldsplass
Innovation project
The Surgical Clinic received innovation funds from Helse Vest in 2022 to further develop the ‘Digitalisation of Patient Follow-up at the Surgical Clinic’ project. This is a comprehensive project seeking to optimise the digital flow of surgical patient management at Haraldsplass.
“For example, we have developed a questionnaire in the project for all surgical outpatients to learn how things are going after their operation, and whether contact with the hospital is necessary due to such things as bleeding or pain,” says Petter Thornam.
“Patients who contact us because they need something get a phone call from a nurse the same day. The hospital started using the solution in August, and we are finding that the patients use it a lot, with feedback on user-friendliness being very positive.”
Work on producing information videos on selected outpatient surgical procedures has also started.
“We know that it can be hard for patients to remember everything that is said to them while they are at the hospital, but by sending them the information on a video, they can replay it as often as they need to,” says the Specialist Director.
Haraldsplass Diakonale Hospital
Haraldsplass is one of three large non-commercial hospitals in Norway. The hospital plays a vital role in the provision of public health services through a contract with Helse Vest RHF.
The hospital has around 900 employees.
The hospital provides specialist services within internal medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, and radiology, in addition to an outpatient clinic.
Haraldsplass has been a customer of CheckWare since 2016.
CheckWare at Haraldsplass Diakonale Hospital
CheckWare is a web-based system that distributes various measure, information material and the like to patients, who can respond in their own time at home, either before attending an appointment or as a standalone consultation, for which they do not have to go to the hospital.
Results go into the patient’s medical records and are accessible for the patients’s clinicians.
This is a system in use at all Helse Vest divisions, and some of the solutions have been developed in consultation with other hospitals and specialists.
Helse Vest's use of CheckWare
Respondent tools:
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Assessments
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Assessment reports
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Content packages
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Plans
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Messages
Tools for healthcare personnel:
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Clinical reports
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Dashboard
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Treatment roles
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Export of raw data
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Export templates
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Flags
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Decisions
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Respondent handling
System tools:
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System settings
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Authentication
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System log
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System reports
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Respondent handling
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Clinician handling