European eHealth Trends:expectations, implications and

actions

Tove SørensenProject Manager ’eHealth Trends’, Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine

eHealth 2006 Conference, Malaga, Spain10-12 May 2006

background

digital opportunities(D Bogdan and V Gray, ITU, )

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.

.

Telephone subscribers and Internet users, World, billion

0

1

1

2

2

1994 96 98 2000 02 2004

Fixed-line

Mobile

Internet users

digital divide (D Bogdan and V Gray ITU)

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.

Internet penetration by region, 2004

5.6

1.8

8.4

13.2

28.2 28.7

0

10

20

30

Americas Europe World Asia-Pacif ic

Africa ArabStates

%Distribution of broadband subscribers by

region, 2004, in percent

Asia-Pacif ic: 41.6%

North America: 27.9%

LAM & Caribbean: 2.4%

Europe: 27.8%Arab States: 0.2%

Africa: 0.1%

perceptions

Click to get Sick

Internet Makes Us Sick

Too much Advice Can Be Bad for Your Health

Is Cybermedicine killing you?

- or part of daily life?

eHealth trends: a study of seven European countries

• Focusing on the “new patients or consumers” and the digital divide in Europe

• Developing a European survey on eHealth consumer trends, 18 months interval

• A citizens’ approach– Patients– Patients’ friends and relatives– Citizens in general

• Co-funded by DG SANCO (2005-2008)

seven European countries• Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine,

University Hospital of North Norway, Norway (NST)

• Fyns Amt, Danish Centre for Health Telematics, Denmark (Funen)

• Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lehrstuhl für Medizinische Informatik, Germany (IMI)

• Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Greece (FORTH)

• Health Promotion State Agency, Latvia (HPSA)

• Wroclaw Medical University, Poland (Wroclaw)

• Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal (Aveiro)

objectives

• Assess peoples’ current use of Internet-based services for health purposes

• Assess peoples’ attitudes to the use of Internet-based services for health purposes

• Assess peoples’ expectations with regard to eHealth services from their family doctors

three dimensions

• SPACE: Examine if there is a difference in the population’s use of, their attitudes and needs of eHealth accross Europe

• TIME: Examine if and to what degree the findings change through the study period

• ACCESS: Relate the findings concerning the above mentioned objectives to peoples’ degree of Internet access

method

• Survey conducted by telephone interviews on a representative sample of the population

• Same questionnaire at the same time, week 40-45 in 2005

• Optional country specific questions. Maximum total length: 15 min

• 2nd survey planned in spring 2007

research area

• Internet access and frequency

• Sources of information about health and illness

• Purpose or areas of use

• Impacts

• Importance

• Expectations towards health care sector

what do we find?

• General Internet use and searching for health information follow the same geographical distribution

• Searching for health information is most common

• Today, the Internet seems to be a supplement – not a replacement for f-t-f health services

case Norway

daily Internet use, Norway 2005

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

unde

r 12

13-1

5

16-1

9

20-2

4

25-3

4

35-4

4

45-5

4

55-6

6

67-7

9

percentage

minutes all

minutes users

who are the typical users?

General Internet use (2005)• Young men• Well educated with good income• Living in urban areas

Internet for health purposes• Young women

• White collar

Norwegian trends – health information on the Internet

Norwegians seeking health information on the Internet

2001 2002 2005

Norwegiansseeking healthinformation on theInternet

impacts

suggestdiagnosis

order products

feel relaxed

feel concerned

change lifestyle

Read

decide ifcontact doctor

Follow-up ftervisist

Prepare for visit

N=1007

when choosing a doctor

Acces

s

Recom

men

datio

ns

Info

rmat

ion o

n th

e of

fice

Price

SMS-re

mind

ers

e-m

ail

Reque

st a

pp o

nline

Web

site

e-pr

escr

iption

s

Acces

s to

EHR

Serie1

Norwegian – trends 2001-2005

• Use of Internet for health purposes is increasing (as is Internet use in general)

• Still, doctors and other health care professionals are the No1 channel for health information

• Citizens would like doctors who offer eHealth services

information-implication-action

action on different levels

• Individuals: citizens in general, patients, next of kin and health professionals

• Organisations: (e)health providers, patient-organisations, unions, academia

• Systems: Policy-makers, public health systems

concluding remarks

• acknowledge information access as a resource, not a threat

• recognise new research agenda

• decrease the e-gap in the population

• look back, catch up, think future

a part of daily life

thank you for your attention

project web-site:www.telemed.no/eHealthTrends

tove.sorensen@telemed.no

welcome

to

Tromsø

12-14 June 2006