Danish telehealth pilots to go national
Denmark has rolled-out two telehealth pilot programs it now intends to implement on a nationwide basis over the next three years.
One of the pilot programs, already in place at the Odense University Hospital in Odense, involves using a video conferencing service to allow foreign patients who don’t speak Danish to communicate with hospital staff. The service uses a video conferencing system, linked to a call center with multi-lingual operators, who can translate a person’s needs or problems immediately to help them receive a better diagnosis.
This first interpretation center was opened in June 2009. Regional implementation of the system is expected by 2010, with a national roll-out to be completed by 2012. A second telehealth pilot was initiated at the beginning of September to monitor around 800,000 unstable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients from their home.
Under this program patients receive a suitcase of video conferencing equipment and monitoring devices and the nurses do their normal rounds over a video conference system where they record the patients’ vital signs. This program is expected to rolled out nationally in 2012.
One of the pilot programs, already in place at the Odense University Hospital in Odense, involves using a video conferencing service to allow foreign patients who don’t speak Danish to communicate with hospital staff. The service uses a video conferencing system, linked to a call center with multi-lingual operators, who can translate a person’s needs or problems immediately to help them receive a better diagnosis.
This first interpretation center was opened in June 2009. Regional implementation of the system is expected by 2010, with a national roll-out to be completed by 2012. A second telehealth pilot was initiated at the beginning of September to monitor around 800,000 unstable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients from their home.
Under this program patients receive a suitcase of video conferencing equipment and monitoring devices and the nurses do their normal rounds over a video conference system where they record the patients’ vital signs. This program is expected to rolled out nationally in 2012.