Webinar about evidence based telemedicine database

On the website, you can search more than 300 articles on telemedicine, filter your search on medical specialities, technology or clinical effect. The search results contain tables with relevant data on diagnosis, intervention, technology and results of the studies in relation to clinical effect, patient experience, economy and implementation.

Last week, the website was the centre of debate in a Danish and an English webinar hosted by CIMT. At both webinars,  Ida Wagner Svendsen, Project Lead, and  Kristian Kidholm, Professor of Innovation and Head of Research, presented the database and the project leading up to the database.

At the Danish webinar, Jan Erik Henriksen, CEO at Steno Diabetes Centre Odense, and Christian Laursen, Head of Research at the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Odense University Hospital, gave their opinion on the database and ideas on where to improve. The international experts at the English webinar were Josep Roca, Professor of Medicine at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, and Scott Henderson, Advisor on Health Technology for the Scottish Government.

The experts praised the database and website as a catalogue of ideas and inspiration, and they were particularly fond of the search function and the user friendly interface. Some praised the red-yellow-green traffic lights, but others pointed out that they were difficult to distinguish for colour blind visitors.

All agreed that the website is a very useful tool and a good basis for more robust conversations with clinical colleagues, but it is crucial to keep it updated to make it sustainable.

BACKGROUND

The database is established by the health technology assessment team at Odense University Hospital.

The website is the result of the project Evidence Based Telemedicine, initiated by the Region of Southern Denmark. In Denmark, there is a political demand for an increase in the number of virtual patient pathways and implementation of digital solutions to ensure coherence for the patient. But it is difficult to implement new solutions at the regional hospitals, and some technologies are only in use at the particular hospital where they were invented. One of the underlying reasons is that we don’t have a comprehensive view of the use of digital health technology or of the effect or impact of the technologies.

To help the clinical departments at the hospitals in the Region of Southern Denmark assess which evidence based telemedicine solutions might make a positive difference for their hospital, the website presents an overview of existing digital solutions that is easy to access and use for the health professionals in the Region of Southern Denmark.