Course content

Digitalisation in the municipal health and care services has been a health policy priority for two decades. Today, digital solutions are part of most work processes in the services. The question is no longer whether the services will be digitalised, but how fast and with what priority. It is well recognized that digitalisation involves changes in how the services are provided and organized, in how illness and health care are experienced and in how patients, relatives, and health professionals relate to each other and collaborate. To exploit the opportunities following the digitalisation for the good of patients, services and society, the development, implementation and use of digital solutions should be knowledge based. In this PhD course, the students will develop understanding of key aspects of the research on digitalisation of the municipal health and care services. Including various research traditions, basic concepts and analytical approaches.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

• has extensive understanding of the relationships between health policy, trends in technology development, implementation and use of digital solutions in the services
• has extensive understanding of the concepts and analytical approaches used in key research traditions
• can critically assess the appropriateness and application of the concepts and analytical approaches used in key research traditions on digital solutions in the services
• has extensive understanding of the methodological and epistemological consequences of that the research on digital solution has interdisciplinary and applied aspirations

Skills:

• formulates research questions for and plan research that is relevant to the services
• relies on knowledge from the key research traditions in professional and public debates on development, implementation and use of digital solutions in the services
• reflects on complex practical issues related to the development, implementation and use of digital solutions in the services

General competence:

• critically reflects on the consequences of that collaboration in the services and clinical encounters are being digitalised.
• identifies relevant issues related to development, implementation and use of digital solutions in the services
• recognises the key research traditions' concepts and analytical approaches in negotiations and practices related to research, implementation and use of digital solutions in the services
• assess the need for, take the initiative to and manage implementation of new digital solutions in the services

Learning methods and activities

The teaching includes a combination of lectures, seminars, and supervision. The lectures address the broad lines in course and the curriculum and provide an overview over the central themes. The supervision is given on texts developed by the students in individual groups

Compulsory assignments

• Attendance, 100%

Further on evaluation

Obligatory activities:

• Attendance, 100% at a four-day seminar
• The syllabus must be read before the course
• Obligatory activities are valid for 2 semesters

The exam:

• The exam is an individual, written paper (assignment). The paper must be submitted no later than 2 weeks after completing the course and must be 2000-3000 words. Further information about the exam is given during the course

Continuation:

• Students who do not pass the exam must submit an improved version of the submitted assignment in the same semester.

Recommended previous knowledge

The target audience for this course are PhD students who plan or carry out research in the municipal health and care services. Phd students enrolled at the Graduate-level Research School of Municipal Healthcare Services or PhD students who are employed at research school’s partner institutions (NTNU is a partner institution) will be prioritized.

Maximum number of participants are 25.

Course materials

Reading list:

• Ash JS; Berg M, Coiera E (2004) Some Unintended Consequences of Information Technology in Health Care: The Nature of Patient Care Information System-related Errors, Journal of the American medical Information Association11(2): 104-112. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M1471
• Andreassen HK; Dyb K; May C; Pope CJ; Warth Line Lundvoll ( 2018) Digitized patient-provider interaction: How does it matter? A qualitative meta-synthesis Social Science and Medicine, Vol 215. ISSN 0277-9536.s 36 - 44.s doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.08.036.
• Andreassen HK; Kjekshus LE; Tjora A (2015). Survival of the project: A case study of ICT innovation in health care. Social Science and Medicine; Vol132. ISSN 0277-9536.s 62 - 69.s doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.016.
• Meskó B; Drobni Z; Bényei E; Gergely B; Győrffy Z (2017) Digital health is a cultural transformation of traditional healthcare mHealth, 3:38
• Noel C& Kieran C (2020) Normalising the "new normal": Changing tech-driven work practices under pandemic time pressure. International Journal of Information Management doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102186
• Cortellazzo L, Bruni E & Zampieri Rta (2019) The Role of Leadership in a Digitalized World: A Review, SYSTEMATIC REVIEW doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01938
• Faulkner A (2009) Medical Technology into Healthcare and Society, A Sociology of Devices, Innovation and Governance: Hampshire: Palgrave Macmilla
• Frennert S (2019) Lost in digitalization? Municipality employment of welfare technologies. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology vol 14, no 6 https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2018.1496362
• Greenhalgh T (2018) How to improve success of technology projects in health and social care Public Health Research & Practice Vol. 28(3):e2831815https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp2831815www.phrp.com.au
• Gustafsson A & Sandsjö L (2020) Evaluation of an interactive showroom to increase general knowledge about welfare technology and its potential in municipal care settings. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol 27, no 8. https://doi.org/10.1080/11038128.2020.1751876
• Halford S, Obstfelder A, Lotherington AT (2010) Changing the Record: The Inter-Professional, Subjective and Embodied Effects of Electronic Patient Records, New Technology Work and Employment 25(3):210 - 222 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-005X.2010.00249.x
• Henwood F & Marent B (2019) Understanding digital health: Productive tensions at the intersection of sociology of health and science and technology, Sociology of Health & Illness Vol. 41 No. S1 2019 ISSN 0141-9889, pp. 1-15doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.1289
• Hofmann, B (2019) ‘Biases and imperatives in handling medical technology.’ Health Policy and Technology 8.4: 377-385.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2019.10.005
• Hofmann, B (2018). ‘Teknologitemming: Om helseteknologiens uformelle føringer og hvordan disse kan tøyles. I Henriette Sinding Aasen, Berit Bringedal, Kristine Bærøe, Anne-Mette Magnussen: Prioritering, styring og likebehandling: Utfordringer i norsk helsetjeneste (kapittel 10), Cappelen Damm Akademisk.https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalog/book/33
• Lotherington, A.T.; Obstfelder, A.; Halford, S. (2016). No place for old women: a critical inquiry into age in later working life. Ageing & Society, May 2016 s. 1-23
• Lupton, D (2013) The digitally engaged patient: Self-monitoring and self-care in the digital health era Social Theory & Health, 11, 256-270. doi:10.1057/sth.2013.10;
• Melby L, Sand K, Midtgård T, Toussaint P, Karlstrøm H (2019) Digitaliseringens konsekvenser for samhandlingen og kvaliteten på helse, velferds og omsorgstjenestene. Kunnskapsnotat, NFR
• Moser I (red.) (2019) Velferdsteknologi. En ressursbok. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademiske
• Oudshoorn, N. (2012) "How Places Matter. Telecare Technologies and the Changing Spatial Dimensions of Healthcare". Social Studies of Science, 42 (1): 121-142.
• Stokke R. (2018). Older People Negotiating Independence and Safety in Everyday Life Using Technology: Qualitative Study. Journal of medical Internet research, 20(10), e10054.
• Timpel P, Oswald S, Schwarz P, Harst Lorenz (2020) Mapping the Evidence on the Effectiveness of Telemedicine Interventions in Diabetes, Dyslipidemia, and Hypertension: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(3):e16791DOI: 10.2196/16791
• Wade, V; Barnet, AG, Martin-Khan, M & Russell R (2017) Designing quantitative telemedicine research Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 2017, Vol. 23(9) 786-791 DOI: 10.1177/1357633X16671240