The Technology Use and Information Flow at a Municipal Telemedicine Service

Abstract

Health care services face challenges with providing individualised treatment to an ageing population prone to chronic conditions and multi-morbidities. The research project Patients and Professionals in Productive Teams aims to study patient-centred teamwork service models. This paper presents an evaluation of a telemedicine service for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients integrated with municipal health care services. Qualitative methods were used to study the technology use and information flow. The results showed that the telemedicine technology was a standalone system, not integrated with the electronic health record of the municipality. A benefit of the system was a function to provide the patient with written instructions on agreements and advices. As a constraint for the patient-centred team approach, the information in the telemedicine system was available only for the telemedicine nurses and not to other health care professionals.