Finnish e-health services intended for citizens – national and regional development

Ruotanen, Ronja; Kangas, Maarit; Tuovinen, Timo; Keränen, Niina; Haverinen, Jari; Reponen, Jarmo

doi:10.23996/fjhw.109778

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This is especially true in the cases of South and North Karelia. Ruotanen et al [ 24 ] studied the availability of eHealth services for citizens in 2020. According to their study, these 2 hospital districts offer the widest range of eHealth services for citizens and they have the best eHealth maturity [ 24 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ruotanen et al [ 24 ] studied the availability of eHealth services for citizens in 2020. According to their study, these 2 hospital districts offer the widest range of eHealth services for citizens and they have the best eHealth maturity [ 24 ]. Could the explanation be that determined work has been done in these hospital districts to promote the digitalization of health care and implement national strategies?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The digitalization of health care has progressed well in Finland [17][18][19][20][21][24][25][26][27][28]33]. This has also come to the fore in international studies, which have highlighted the fact that Finland is one of the pioneers in the digitalization of health care [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It described the situation of digitalization in Finnish health care organizations in 2020 [ 20 ]. Although studies have mainly focused on the eHealth maturity level of health care service organizations, eHealth services provided for citizens have also been the subject of research, both in Finland and internationally [ 19 - 21 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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National Development and Regional Differences in eHealth Maturity in Finnish Public Health Care: Survey Study

Haverinen¹,

Keränen²,

Tuovinen³

et al. 2022

JMIR Med Inform

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Background eHealth increasingly affects the delivery of health care around the world and the quest for more efficient health systems. In Finland, the development of eHealth maturity has been systematically studied since 2003, through surveys conducted every 3 years. It has also been monitored in several international studies. The indicators used in these studies examined the availability of the electronic patient record, picture archiving and communication system, health information exchange, and other key eHealth functionalities. Objective The first aim is to study the national development in the maturity level of eHealth in primary health care and specialized care between 2011 and 2020 in Finland. The second aim is to clarify the regional differences in the maturity level of eHealth among Finnish hospital districts in 2020. Methods Data for this study were collected in 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2020, using web-based questionnaires from the Use of information and communication technology surveys in Finnish health care project. In total, 16 indicators were selected to describe the status of eHealth, and they were based on international eHealth studies and Finnish eHealth surveys in 3 areas: applications, regional integration, and data security and information and communications technology skills. The indicators remain the same in all the study years; therefore, the results are comparable. Results All the specialized care organizations (21/21, 100%) in 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2020 participated in the study. The response rate among primary health care organizations was 86.3% (139/161) in 2011, 88.2% (135/153) in 2014, 85.8% (121/141) in 2017, and 95.6% (130/136) in 2020. At the national level, the biggest developments in eHealth maturity occurred between 2011 and 2014. The development has since continued, and some indicators have been saturated. Primary health care lags behind specialized care organizations, as measured by all the indicators and throughout the period under review. Regionally, there are differences among different types of organizations. Conclusions eHealth maturity has steadily progressed in Finland nationally, and its implementation has also been promoted through various national strategies and legislative changes. Some eHealth indicators have already been saturated and achieved an intensity of use rate of 100%. However, the scope for development remains, especially in primary health care. As Finland has long been a pioneer in the digitalization of health care, the results of this study show that the functionalities of eHealth will be adopted in stages, and deployment will take time; therefore, national eHealth strategies and legislative changes need to be implemented in a timely manner. The comprehensive sample size used in this study allows a regional comparison in the country, compared with previous country-specific international studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

National Development and Regional Differences in eHealth Maturity in Finnish Public Health Care: Survey Study

Haverinen¹,

Keränen²,

Tuovinen³

et al. 2022

JMIR Med Inform

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“…However, due to suboptimal integration solutions within the organizations, insufficient data structures in Kanta services, and barriers set by legislation, patient information is not always readily usable across different sectors, organizations, or facilities [ 61 ]. Comprehensive digital services are also made available to patients by solutions such as patient portals, access to their own data in the Kanta eArchive via My Kanta Pages, digital symptom checkers, and digital self-management guides [ 65 ]. Telemedicine with patients via video visits or chat messages, as well as self-recorded health data and monitoring services, already increased before the COVID-19 pandemic [ 61 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interplay of Work, Digital Health Usage, and the Perceived Effects of Digitalization on Physicians’ Work: Network Analysis Approach

Saukkonen¹,

Elovainio²,

Virtanen³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background In health care, the benefits of digitalization need to outweigh the risks, but there is limited knowledge about the factors affecting this balance in the work environment of physicians. To achieve the benefits of digitalization, a more comprehensive understanding of this complex phenomenon related to the digitalization of physicians’ work is needed. Objective The aim of this study was to examine physicians’ perceptions of the effects of health care digitalization on their work and to analyze how these perceptions are associated with multiple factors related to work and digital health usage. Methods A representative sample of 4630 (response rate 24.46%) Finnish physicians (2960/4617, 64.11% women) was used. Statements measuring the perceived effects of digitalization on work included the patients’ active role, preventive work, interprofessional cooperation, decision support, access to patient information, and faster consultations. Network analysis of the perceived effects of digitalization and factors related to work and digital health usage was conducted using mixed graphical modeling. Adjusted and standardized regression coefficients are denoted by b. Centrality statistics were examined to evaluate the relative influence of each variable in terms of node strength. Results Nearly half of physicians considered that digitalization has promoted an active role for patients in their own care (2104/4537, 46.37%) and easier access to patient information (1986/4551, 43.64%), but only 1 in 10 (445/4529, 9.82%) felt that the impact has been positive on consultation times with patients. Almost half of the respondents estimated that digitalization has neither increased nor decreased the possibilities for preventive work (2036/4506, 45.18%) and supportiveness of clinical decision support systems (1941/4458, 43.54%). When all variables were integrated into the network, the most influential variables were purpose of using health information systems, employment sector, and specialization status. However, the grade given to the electronic health record (EHR) system that was primarily used had the strongest direct links to faster consultations (b=0.32) and facilitated access to patient information (b=0.28). At least 6 months of use of the main EHR was associated with facilitated access to patient information (b=0.18). Conclusions The results highlight the complex interdependence of multiple factors associated with the perceived effects of digitalization on physicians’ work. It seems that a high-quality EHR system is critical for promoting smooth clinical practice. In addition, work-related factors may influence other factors that affect digital health success. These factors should be considered when developing and implementing new digital health technologies or services for physicians’ work. The adoption of digital health is not just a technological project but a project that changes existing work practices.

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Occupational health professionals’ experiences with telehealth services: usage, perceived usefulness and ease of use

Nissinen,

Pesonen,

Toivio

et al. 2023

Health Technol.

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Background In occupational health care, telehealth services implementation requires the professionals to change their way of working because they have had to incorporate the telehealth services into their daily routines. Understanding how occupational health professionals relate to and experience telehealth services may aid in its implementation. However, an overview of telehealth services’ use in occupational health care is lacking. The aim of this study was to provide insight into the telehealth services that are used in occupational health care and identify their factors related to occupational health professionals’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Methods The present cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in May-June 2022 in Finland. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was run to test the relationships between demographic variables and the rate of usefulness, and ease of use variables. Scheffe test was used to make comparisons among group means in an analysis of variance (ANOVA) experiment. Results According to the results that investigated the ease of use of telehealth services, the respondents mostly felt that using telehealth services was easy and easy to learn. Profession, work experience, and information and communication technology skills were determinants related to perceived usefulness of telehealth services, while profession and information and communication technology skills were related to perceived ease of use, respectively. Conclusions In this survey, quite a fair agreement was found among occupational health professionals regarding the perceived usefulness and ease of use of telehealth services. However, the study results suggest that occupational telehealth services are most likely to be useful and easy to use when professionals’ information and communication technology skills are at a good level.

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Finnish e-health services intended for citizens – national and regional development

Cited by 16 publications

References 3 publications

National Development and Regional Differences in eHealth Maturity in Finnish Public Health Care: Survey Study

National Development and Regional Differences in eHealth Maturity in Finnish Public Health Care: Survey Study

The Interplay of Work, Digital Health Usage, and the Perceived Effects of Digitalization on Physicians’ Work: Network Analysis Approach

Occupational health professionals’ experiences with telehealth services: usage, perceived usefulness and ease of use

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