Crossing Borders: An Online Interdisciplinary Course in Health Informatics for Students From Two Countries.

A cross-countries and interprofessional novel approach for delivering an international interdisciplinary graduate health informatics course online is presented. Included in this discussion are the challenges, lessons learned, and pedagogical recommendations from the experiences of teaching the course. Four professors from three different fields and from three universities collaborated in offering an international health informatics course for an interdisciplinary group of 18 US and seven Norwegian students. Highly motivated students and professors, an online technology infrastructure that supported asynchronously communication and course delivery, the ability to adapt the curriculum to meet…

On the evolution of e-Government: The user imperative

Published version of a chapter published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2739, 139-143. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/10929179_25 This paper focuses the need for more research on user involvement and the investigation of stakeholders in e-Government initiatives. An investigation of existing work revealed a lack of research on those topics. As e-Government evolves and users mature, the value of their input can increase. The paper discusses the need and potential benefits of this approach. Finally, we suggest that existing stakeholder theory is investigated for adaptation into e-Government settings in order to map the complex body of interrelated stakeh…

A Cross-Country Comparison of Success Factor Priorities for Health Information Technology Managers: Evidence of Convergence in the Nordic Countries

The implementation of Health Information Technology (HIT) can improve the provision of highquality and efficient healthcare services; however, it has met with significant challenges in many cases. Despite the challenges occurring in many countries, prior research on HIT implementation success factors is, however, mainly from the USA. This research conducted a survey to IT managers in Nordic countries’ healthcare organizations and compiled a list of the HIT implementation success factors that these managers considered important in each country. It was found that IT managers in Nordic countries agree highly with each other intheir judgment of the importance of these success factors. While Nor…

Dialectics and contradictions in public procurement of information systems

Published version of a chapter from the book M. Janssen, H. Scholl, M. Wimmer & F. Bannister (Eds.), Electronic Government : Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014. Also available on SpringerLink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44426-9_24 Public procurement of Information Systems is a highly complex process. Not surprisingly, systems often fail to meet the needs for which they were procured. One of the main causes of this is the contradictions between goals of different stakeholders. Identifying and understanding these conflicts and contradictions are essential to develop strategies to improve the procurement process. In this paper, we present a case study where we examined the procurement p…

Infrastructure and Procedure for Simulation of Cardiac Remote Monitoring: Experiences from the Telemedicine Agder Project

Telemedicine are remote electronic clinical consultations using technology for delivery of health care services. Telemedicine can be offered as a service to citizens living at home with an aim of reducing the number of hospital visits or visits to the General Practitioner and improving longterm cost-effectiveness. In Norway, a recent health reform has caused municipalities to re-organize their design of health services, with an increased use of telemedicine. In this context, the “Telemedicine Agder” project focuses on the organization, implementation and operation of large scale telemedicine services. In the project, a simulation of a telemedicine service for monitoring of heart failure was…

Exploring health information technology implementation success factors: a comparative investigation in Nordic countries

The implementation of health information technology (HIT) can improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. There is a gap in terms of generalising and systematising the results of previous research and in understanding HIT implementation worldwide. The majority of studies on HIT implementation have been conducted in North America, most of which are case studies or other qualitative research. In this research, we surveyed IT managers in Nordic healthcare and used factor analysis to uncover success factor groups. Six groups emerged: culture conducive to change, quality of system and service, collaboration, alignment, end-user involvement, and management commitment. We found that…

Public Procurement of Information Systems – A Dialectical Analysis

The paper III and IV are excluded from the dissertation with respect to copyright. In this thesis I identify dialectics in public procurement of Information Systems (IS), and for some of the dialectics I identify synthesis. My study is based on a research gap, revealed through a literature review that I conducted. Public procurement in general and public procurement of IS in particular has been a neglected field of study. This is surprising, given the fact that public procurement account for a high proportion of the gross domestic product in the western world, and that procurement of IS especially is a highly complex task. My literature review identified a lack of research on the challenges…

Pilotprosjekter i kommunal e-helse – fremmes eller hemmes tjenesteinnovasjon?

Research on Public Procurement of Information Systems: The Need for a Process Approach

Use of welfare technology to increase employment of individuals with intellectual disabilities

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Digitalisation of municipal healthcare collaboration with volunteers: a case study applying normalization process theory

Abstract Background Increasing use of volunteers in healthcare requires structured collaboration between healthcare services and volunteers. The aim of this research was to explore critical issues and strategies in the implementation process of a digital solution for collaboration with and coordination of volunteers in municipal healthcare services. Methods Qualitative data collection was used to study implementation of a digital system for collaboration with volunteers in three Norwegian municipalities. Three rounds of interviews were conducted with healthcare employees from a volunteer centre and from municipality healthcare units in three municipalities: before implementation, and 6 and …

Generation of Design Principles as Knowledge Conversion - Elucidating Dynamics

In this paper we apply the perspective of knowledge conversion with recent identified core elements for developing design principles to elucidate the dynamics of design principles. In the paper, the elements of influence, actors, and formulation are integrated in a knowledge conversion process of socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization – through which tacit knowledge is made explicit, shared, and turned into action. We exemplify this process with three empirical cases using action design research (ADR) to develop IT artifacts and generate design principles. Our paper shows the dynamics across a process of generating design principles. Viewing the generation of desig…

E-læring, dialog og kommunikasjon - Et følgeforskningsprosjekt i tilknytning til Regionalt samarbeidsprosjekt om lederopplæring

Denne rapporten presenterer resultater fra følgeforskning i tilknytning til Regionalt samarbeidsprosjekt om lederopplæring. Prosjektet har siktet mot å realisere avtalen om et inkluderende arbeidsliv (IA) ved å skolere mellomlederes kommunikative egenskaper. Lederopplæringen har hatt deltakere fra kommunene Birkenes, Vennesla, Mandal, Søgne, Lillesand, Songdalen og Kristiansand, samt Vest-Agder fylkeskommune. Programmet som bestått av tre samlinger med støtte fra e- læringsverktøy og en kursbok. Undersøkelsen viser at de aller fleste deltakerne er svært fornøyde med programmet. De er særlig fornøyde med samlingene. E-læringsverktøyet og kursboka er beskrevet som et viktig og positivt supple…

Experiences of community-dwelling older adults with the use of telecare in home care services:a qualitative systematic review

BACKGROUND: The aging population will lead to a rise in the number of people with age-related diseases, and increasing demand for home care services. Telecare is seen as a solution to this challenge by promoting aging in place. Nevertheless, there is still a poor understanding of older adults' experiences with the actual use of telecare.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to identify and synthesize the best available qualitative evidence of community-dwelling older adults' experience with the use of telecare in home care services.INCLUSION CRITERIA: This review considered studies that focused on qualitative data, examining older adults' experiences with the use of active and passive techn…

IMPLEMENTERING AV INFORMASJONSSYSTEM – OG UTFORDRINGER I EN ORGANISASJON MED KUNNSKAPSARBEIDERE

Published version of an article in the journal: Norsk konferanse for organisasjoners bruk av IT. Also available at: http://ojs.bibsys.no/index.php/Nokobit/article/view/37/35 Innføring av elektroniske legemiddelkurver i helsesektoren er prioritert både politisk og av ledelsen på sykehusene. Det er store forventninger til at slike systemer skal øke arbeidskapasiteten til de ansatte, forbedre informasjonsflyten og redusere antall feilmedisineringer. Akershus Universitetssykehus er det eneste sykehus i Norge som har tatt i bruk en elektronisk legemiddelkurve på sengepost. Implementeringen er imidlertid sterkt forsinket i forhold til vedtatt plan. Motstanden mot dette informasjonssystemet har væ…

Challenges of Mainstreaming Telecare. Exploring actualization of telecare affordances in home care services

Communication and information exchange between primary healthcare employees and volunteers - Challenges, needs and possibilities for technology support.

In light of the challenges posed by an ageing population and tighter public budgets, governments worldwide are seeking innovative ways of improving health service delivery. Volunteers can contribute to such improvement, but this requires effective coordination and communication between volunteers and healthcare employees. In this case study, conducted in two Norwegian municipalities during September-October 2017, the aim was to understand how collaboration and coordination is carried out between several stakeholders: volunteers, volunteer family members of healthcare service users and healthcare employees. Our results show that daily cooperation was largely unsystematic, and stakeholders em…

Recommendations of a Laboratory Infrastructure for Simulation of Telemedicine Services

In Norway, a health reform targeting coordination and continuity of care has urged municipalities to re-organize their services as there is an increasing use of remote monitoring and sensor technologies in citizens’ homes. In this context, the research project “Telemedicine Agder” is an opportunity to study the implementation, organization and operation of large scale telemedicine services, and identify the service models of the future. As part of the project, simulation of a telemedicine service for remote monitoring of diabetes II was tested in a clinical laboratory with key informants from municipalities, hospital and research partners. This paper presents the technical and physical infr…

Knowledge Creation - A Perspective on the Development of Design Principles

In this paper we reflect on and conceptualize on the development of design principles in a design process. We use the concept of ba to describe how design principles can be created when involving users, domain experts, designers and researchers in the design process. The study applies action design research (ADR) to design and develop a self-reflective career support tool for persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). We have applied processes of knowledge creation and their corresponding ba, the originating ba, the interacting ba, the systemizing ba and the exercising ba to conceptualize the development of design principles. Preliminary findings imply that a structured process of knowled…

Caring by Telecare? A Hermeneutic Study of Experiences among Older Adults and Their Family Caregivers

Aims and objectives To obtain a deeper understanding of the persistent use of telecare for older adults and their family caregivers. Background Telecare is seen as part of the solution in home care services for ageing in place. Previous studies have shown that telecare is a complex intervention, and there is still a poor understanding of older adults' and their family caregivers' experience with the use of telecare. Design This study used a qualitative hermeneutic research approach. Method Interviews were conducted with 18 older adults and follow-up interviews were conducted with 15 participants after 5-6 months of use. In addition, interviews were conducted with seven close family caregive…

The public procurement of information systems: dialectics in requirements specification

When acquiring information systems, public entities face a dilemma. On the one hand, they want to procure the system that best suits their needs, which often requires lengthy dialogues with vendors. At the same time, they are restricted by government regulations that mandate limited dialogue in the interests of transparency and equal opportunities for all vendors. To examine how public entities deal with this, we followed three procurement projects in Norway. We show that this dilemma manifests itself as a dialectic between the thesis of getting the system requirements right and the antithesis of strictly adhering to regulations. Public entities search for a resolution of this dialectic thr…

Deep Neural Networks for Prediction of Exacerbations of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients need help in daily life situations as they are burdened with frequent risks of acute exacerbation and loss of control. An automated monitoring system could lead to timely treatments and avoid unnecessary hospital (re-)admissions and home visits by doctors or nurses. Therefore we present a Deep Artificial Neural Networks for approach prediction of exacerbations, particularly Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) for classification of COPD patients category and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), for early prediction of COPD exacerbations and subsequent triage. The FFNN and LSTM models are trained on data collected from remote monitoring of 94 pa…

Key challenges and best practices in the coordination of volunteers in healthcare services: A qualitative systematic review.

Cooperation between voluntary organisations and volunteers within healthcare services contributes to the development of public welfare. The coordination process between healthcare services and volunteers must therefore be studied to understand associated challenges and best practices. This paper presents a systematic literature review of studies that have used qualitative methods. The review was conducted to identify the knowledge base concerning these issues. The search was performed in 4 April 2019 on five databases: EbscoHost, Ovid, Scopus, Emerald and Svemed+. The selection criteria included papers published between 1 January 2009 and 4 April 2019. In total, 5,340 papers were extracted;…

Blended learning: communication, locations and work-life practices

The article discusses blended learning and how various delivery formats affect the way learning is situated in work-life practices. The authors approached this issue through an empirical study of an in-service training programme for middle-level managers in a number of case organisations. The programme used a combination of e-learning, textbooks and face-to-face seminars. The conclusion reached is that a purposeful blend of delivery modes and technology systems can situate learning outside the daily work location and at the same time facilitate the creation of communities of practice embedded in daily work experience. It is further argued that inflexibility can be a necessary for creation o…

The Public Procurement of IS - A Process View

This paper addresses a lack of research into public procurement of information systems, especially from a process focus. Three case studies from IS procurement in Norwegian municipalities are presented. By following one of the procurements in detail, the paper shows a process with a very strict phased division, an approach quite different from today's agile system development methods. The cases show the importance of the requirement specification which is completed before talking to vendors. They also show the need for clarifying the content of the offer, through a dialogue with the vendor. A number of critical incidents are identified, involving the interests of different stakeholders. Con…

Challenges in Information Systems Procurement in the Norwegian Public Sector

Published version of a chapter in the book Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6846, 404-417. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22878-0_34 Public procurement of information systems (IS) and IS services provides several challenges to the stakeholders involved in the procurement processes. This paper reports initial results from a Delphi study, which involved 46 experienced procurement managers, chief information officers, and vendor representatives in the Norwegian public sector. The participants identified altogether 98 challenges related to IS procurement, divided further into 13 categories: requirements specification, change management, cooperation a…