National surveys on e-health and e-welfare show the status and trends in e-health and e-welfare in Finland, and areas progress and improvement.
By our Member THL (FI)
EHTEL member Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has published a report on e-health and e-welfare in Finnish healthcare.
This 2018 report collects the findings from five nationwide e-health and e-welfare surveys targeted at organisations, professionals and citizens in Finland over a 15-year time span.
The surveys monitor the state of information systems use in Finnish healthcare and social welfare, in accordance with the national monitoring of the information system services.
Finnish healthcare and social welfare systems: good progress has been made
The report highlights insights into the 2018 Finnish situation:
- Major progress has been made in e-health and e-welfare services: citizens can now communicate with health services and access a bigger range of electronic services. They view their own data more often.
- Among professionals, doctors are more satisfied with electronic patient record systems than before: they find it easier to obtain prescription data from other organisations. Nurses consider themselves proficient users of electronic data and information systems.
- Health information exchange has increased: regional information flow between primary and secondary care is more fluent as is cooperation between public and private organisations.
Areas of improvement: there’s still work to be done
Information systems have consistently improved the work of healthcare professionals and access of citizens to digital healthcare. However, even in the highly digitalised Finnish system, there is still need for more effort and investment in:
- The reduction of digital exclusion: Most citizens surveyed are able to access e-services, but there are still people unable to access them.
- Information exchange and interoperability between information systems: From the professionals’ perspective, this will facilitate searching for relevant information by using better, more efficient tools for information management.
- The quality, accessibility, and usability of e-services: This will be targeted at citizens to meet their needs better.
Next steps and lessons to learn for EHTEL members
With such a large amount of data available, making intelligent use of it is key to a better digital healthcare system.
- The Finnish social services will increase the effort made to ensure equal access to e-services, and the efficiency and accessibility of connecting patients, professionals and organisations.
- Finland illustrates that highly interesting best practices, achievements, and challenges emerge through a thorough implementation of digital healthcare.
Want to know more and consider how the 2018 report findings could apply to your own country or region? Click here to download and read the full report.
>>Next reading on Finland: the first legislation on secondary use of health data has been adopted<<
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