Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare > Volume 14, Number 7 > Pp. 368-371

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Johansen, M. A Articles by Bellika, J. G Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

RESEARCH Original articles

An exploratory study of disease surveillance systems in Norway

Monika A Johansen ^* , Jeremiah Scholl ^*, Gudleif Aronsen , Gunnar Hartvigsen ^*  and Johan G Bellika ^* 

^* Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø; Department of Computer Science, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

Correspondence: Monika A Johansen, Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine, University Hospital of North Norway, PO Box 35, N-9038 Tromsø, Norway (Fax: +47 77 754 099; Email: monika.johansen{at}telemed.no)

We conducted a qualitative study of the system for contagious disease surveillance in Norway. Semi-structured interviews were held with five general practitioners (GPs), including one person responsible for informing GPs in their region about potentially serious disease outbreaks. The interviews suggested that the existing system had several limitations, making it of little relevance to local epidemics or daily medical practice. Specifically, it was difficult and time-consuming for physicians to locate relevant information, and there was a substantial delay between reported diagnoses and eventual feedback about outbreaks. This resulted in information that was too old to be of value. The interviews also investigated design matters related to future realtime disease surveillance systems. The GPs expressed interest in a distributed system for realtime extraction and presentation of data from electronic record systems. They required that any such system be customizable to the specific needs of the doctor in order to be relevant in day-to-day practice, and that correct interpretation of data would be possible in the minimum of time.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Steurbaut, S. Van Hoecke, K. Colpaert, K. Lamont, K. Taveirne, P. Depuydt, D. Benoit, J. Decruyenaere, and F. De Turck Use of web services for computerized medical decision support, including infection control and antibiotic management, in the intensive care unit J Telemed Telecare, January 1, 2010; 16(1): 25 - 29. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]