Terje Solvoll - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Terje Solvoll

International Journal on Advances in Life Sciences

Telestroke can facilitate remote cerebrovascular specialty consults from virtually any location w... more Telestroke can facilitate remote cerebrovascular specialty consults from virtually any location within minutes of attempted contact, adding greater expertise to the care provided to any individual patient. In 2010, a Telestroke service was established between the three hospitals that constitute the Nordland Hospital in Northern Norway. The Telestroke service connected the neurological department at the central hospital with two small, local hospitals. The aim of our study was to implement a Telestroke service and explore if the benefits reported internationally could be achieved in the North Norwegian healthcare context. The study presented herein was based on Telestroke log data, field observations, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with the health personnel involved. After more than two years of operation, Telestroke consultations were described as successful. However, the frequency of use was much lower than the estimate before implementation, and the Telestr...

interactive Journal of Medical Research, 2016

Innovative technologies and informatics offer a wide range of services to health districts, docto... more Innovative technologies and informatics offer a wide range of services to health districts, doctors, nurses, and patients, and is changing the traditional concept of health care. In the last few years, the availability of portable devices, their easiness to transport and use, and the capability to collect and transmit various clinical data have resulted in the fast development of telemedicine. However, despite its potential impact in improving patient conditions, and its cost effectiveness reported in literature, telemedicine is not in daily practice. The aim of this study is to provide evidence of the positive impact of telemonitoring proving the sustainability of an application by sending spirometry outcomes from patients&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; homes to the hospital doctors via the Internet, and from doctors to patients by an additional phone call solution. We examined collected data related to clinical improvement of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The patients were followed-up at home using telemonitoring for a period of 10 years, with the aims to prove the sustainability of the methodology (transmissions of spirometry from the patients&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; home to the doctors and feedback from the doctors to the patients by phone call from the hospital). We stored and analyzed all spirometry transmissions received, and tested the possible presence to decrease the costs between the standard clinical trial (only ambulatory visits) and standard clinical trial with telemonitoring for the follow-up of patients with CF (telemedicine). This was done through an economic analysis of the costs for patients followed at home by telemonitoring. We assessed four years of observation and a simulation of total long-term costs between 2010 and 2020. We discovered a potential saving of €40,397.00 per patient for 10 years, actualized at €36,802.97 for the follow-up of all patients enrolled. The results from the study suggest that telemedicine can improve the health of patients with CF. It is a relatively cheap and potentially sustainable solution, compared to standard clinical trials. However, to establish and prove the long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, more controlled psychological and behavioral studies are needed.

Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine, Jan 13, 2016

Obesity is one of the biggest drivers of preventable chronic diseases and healthcare costs in Wor... more Obesity is one of the biggest drivers of preventable chronic diseases and healthcare costs in Worldwide. Different prevention activities are suggested. By monitoring daily energy expenditure (EE) could be possible make personalized diets and programming physical activity. In this, physical inactivity is one of the most important public health problems. Some studies refer the effort of the international community in promoting physical activities. Physical activity can be promoted only by increasing citizens' empowerment on taking care of their health, and it pass from the improving of individual information. Technology can offer solutions and metrics for monitoring and measuring daily activity by interacting with individuals, sharing information and feedbacks. In this study we review indicators of total energy expenditure and weaknesses of available devices in assessing these parameters. Literature review and technology testing EuNetHta core model. For the clinical aspects, it is...

Wireless communication infrastructure in hospitals represents a core for information sharing betw... more Wireless communication infrastructure in hospitals represents a core for information sharing between health care workers. Medical staff's work situation is highly mobile, and important information is constantly shared between co-workers to provide high quality services to the patients. To be able to communicate at any place and at any time during shifts, physicians carry mobile communication devices, often several devices according to their role and responsibilities. This leads, in many situations, to a number of problems, especially regarding to unnecessary interruptions from these devices. This mainly happens due to the callers not being aware of the situation of the called person, or ignoring the situation and context of their colleagues. Such situations often lead to severe medical consequences, such as medication errors and mistakes during treatment, and should be solved.

Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, 2015

ABSTRACT The work setting in hospitals is communication intensive and can lead to significant dif... more ABSTRACT The work setting in hospitals is communication intensive and can lead to significant difficulties related to interruptions from co-workers. Physicians often need information fast, and any delay between the decision made and the action taken could cause medical errors. One suggested solution for this problem is to implement wireless phone systems. However, psychological theory and empirical evidence, both suggest that wireless phones have the potential of creating additional problems related to interruptions, compared to traditional paging systems. The fact that hospital workers prefer interruptive communication methods before non-interruptive methods, amplifies the risk of overloading people when phones are widely deployed. This challenge causes some hospital staff to resist the diffusion of wireless phones, and a key is how to handle the balance between increased availability, and increased interruptions. In this chapter, the authors present solutions based on context aware communication systems, aiming to reduce interruptions.

The Wireless Communication Infrastructure represents a core for information sharing between healt... more The Wireless Communication Infrastructure represents a core for information sharing between health care workers in hospitals: Medical staffs work situation is highly mobile, and important information is constantly shared between health care workers to provide high quality service for the patients. Physicians carry mobile communication devices to be able to communicate in their mobile work, and often several wireless devices according to their role and responsibilities. This leads to a number of problems, especially regarding interruptions from these devices. Such interruptions are often due to the caller is unaware or ignoring the situation and context, in which their colleagues are. This can, and often does lead to severe medical consequences. This article deals with the CallMeSmart system (CMS); a communication infrastructure based on collection, analysis and dissemination of context sensitive information through a communication system based on smartphones and DECT devices, to improve the current communication backbones, and to reduce interruptions from mobile devices in hospital settings.

Studies in health technology and informatics, 2015

CallMeSmart is a context aware communication system for hospitals. The system is being used by nu... more CallMeSmart is a context aware communication system for hospitals. The system is being used by nurses and the physicians at the Oncology department, University Hospital of North Norway. CallMeSmart has been designed to increase the efficiency of communication between the nurse-physician and physician-physician. In this study, we have looked at the communication pathways between nurse-nurse and patient-nurse: how nurses define a preference of calling somebody, how alarms and tasks are prioritized, and how this could be implemented into the CallMeSmart system to improve the system for the nurses. This paper discusses how the communication pathways of the patient alarm system can be improved for health care actors in hospitals by revealing the communication patterns according to an alarm between those actors. We address the communication pattern between nurses, other health care actors, patients and the devices used, and discuss possible improvements of this communication.

Studies in health technology and informatics

A common denominator for modern hospitals is variety of communication problems. In particular, in... more A common denominator for modern hospitals is variety of communication problems. In particular, interruptions from mobile communication devices are a big concern for many physicians. This study adheres to an interpretive research approach. 11 physicians were observed for a total of 135 hours during May and June 2009, and shows in which degree physicians are interrupted by mobile devices in their daily work, and in which situations they are interrupted. This study contributes to knowledge that could help us in designing and developing an interruption management system for mobile communication in hospitals.

Studies in health technology and informatics, 2013

In hospitals, mobile communication devices increase the occurrence of inappropriate interruptions... more In hospitals, mobile communication devices increase the occurrence of inappropriate interruptions during clinical task performance. These interruptions have been related to decreased quality of clinical care. User requirements were elicited using a scenario based approach. The results present insights into user requirements for an interruption management system for hospitals. Hospital workflow protocols were identified as a major source of interruptions. Many suggestions for managing these interruptions related to improving workflow using IT. We have shown that even though the hospital is an exceptionally demanding environment, the user requirements for interruption management concur with earlier findings in the broader fields of context aware interruption management and computer supported cooperative work.

Working in a hospital environment requires highly mobile personnel. To facilitate the increasing ... more Working in a hospital environment requires highly mobile personnel. To facilitate the increasing need for exchange of patient data between healthcare professionals, mobile communication devices are used. Mobile communication devices also increase the occurrence of inappropriate interruptions during clinical task performance. These interruptions have been related to decreased quality of clinical care. User requirements were elicited using a scenariobased approach. The results present insights into user requirements for an interruption management system for hospitals. Hospital workflow protocols were identified as a major source of interruptions. Suggestions by participants for managing these interruptions related to improving workflow using IT instead of merely preventing interruptions. We have shown that even though the hospital is an exceptionally demanding environment, the user requirements for interruption management concur with earlier findings in the broader fields of context aware interruption management and computer supported cooperative work.

2013 International Conference on Information Science and Applications (ICISA), 2013

Hospitals are working environments where information is constantly exchanged between co-workers o... more Hospitals are working environments where information is constantly exchanged between co-workers over a complex communication infrastructure. In order to support the needs of hospital professionals, this infrastructure should provide the possibility to exchange important information as quickly as possible and, at the same time, contact colleagues without interrupting their working activities unnecessarily. Interruptions are unpleasant situations and a source of stress and distraction that may increase the probability of taking wrong decisions. Currently, hospital communication infrastructure relies on the use of pagers which create a large amount of unnecessary interruptions. Wireless phones are less utilized, but as opposed to pagers they provide text and audio services in the same device. With a suitable context-aware system it should be capable of balance interruptions and thereby provide solutions able to efficiently support the work of hospital professionals. The system has been developed using the iterative software engineering approach, Unified Process. The system is able to block and reroute calls directed to users that are not available due to their location, work schedule, activity and role. A number of tests have been carried out after the development, and highlighted some changes that have to be made before being deployed in real hospital environments.

Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2013

Background: A common denominator of modern hospitals is a variety of communication problems. In p... more Background: A common denominator of modern hospitals is a variety of communication problems. In particular, interruptions from mobile communication devices are a cause of great concern for many physicians.

... Their advices, the time they dedicated to me, and their guidance have been really important f... more ... Their advices, the time they dedicated to me, and their guidance have been really important for my thesis. I also want to thank my supervisors from my home university, Prof. Francesca Arcelli and Prof. Claudia Raibulet who also gave me several feedback about this work. ...