Telemedicine in Norway : status and the road ahead / Terje Blomberg [and others].

  • Norway. Sosial- og Helsedepartementet.
Date:
1999
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Telemedicine in Norway : status and the road ahead / Terje Blomberg [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    therefore of the view that the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs should recommend further investigations into a telemedical centre in Tromsg. The working party also recommends the establishment of telemedical programme councils in each individual region and that the work started by the working party be continued in the form of project work with specific measures. Appendix 1 - Abbreviations and concepts ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode. High speed network technology. ATM has very high bandwidth and is therefore suited to, for example, real time transfers of video, speech and data. ATM is defined as broadband ISDN. ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network. An international telecommunications standard for the transmission of sound, pictures and data over digital lines. EDI: Electronic Document Interchange. ECG: Electrocardiography PACS: Picture Archiving and Communication System RIS: Radiological Information System The budget recommendation of the Social Affairs Committee of the Storting contains a majority proposal that the Government should conduct an investigation into the establishment of a national centre for telemedicine in Tromsg. This proposal was put forward after the appointment of the working party. The proposal serves to emphasize that this will be an area of interest in the future. KITH is functioning as the secretariat for the IT action plan. Telemedicine forms part of this plan. This does not mean that telemedicine will give all patients access to specialists. The general practitioner will continue to refer patients to specialists. However, a referral to a telemedical consultation may entail that the patient gains access to both a specialist and general practitioner. Forum for Organizational Development is a joint project established in 1987 for the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and The Norwegian Association of Local Authorities. The forum represents a follow-up to the Stein Committee's report on internal organization and management in hospitals (NOU 1992:2 The Patient First!) Managers should be understood as, for example, County Directors of Health*, Hospital Managers and Senior Departmental Physicians.* Video conferencing equipment is one type of equipment that can be used by a great many different user groups. This makes it easier to justify investment and operating cost. By treating approximately 700 dermatology patients at Kirkenes and Hammerfest instead of sending them for consultations at RiT@, the National Insurance Administration saves approximately NOK 2 million in travel expenses per year. At the same time the primary health service has invested in equipment and the specialist health service has increased its level of activity. This investment and increase in activity are not reflected in budgets. Fewer patients are referred when telemedical consultations are used. This could release some time and resources in the hospitals. One example of this might be cases in which both the primary doctor and the specialist acted properly but where an error nevertheless occurred. In such situations it could be argued that the patient him/herself is responsible for the incorrect treatment. This is not a reasonable arrangement.