Vestre Viken Hospital Trust has been awarded funding by Innovation Norway to realise the project “Video Conversations with the Emergency Services”.
Video calls with the Emergency Services
Vestre Viken HT operates hospitals and provides health services for approximately 500,000 citizens in 22 Norwegian municipalities in Vestfold, Telemark, Innlandet and Viken.
The innovative project is now entering a new phase, as Vestre Viken has just signed an innovation partnership with the Danish company Incendium A/S, following an extensive public tender process.
The goal is to create a solution for receiving video feeds when a 113 call is made in Norway (corresponding to the UK 999 and US 911 numbers). The emergency medical services in Drammen are also a partner in the innovation project.
The contract with Incendium has a value of €520.156 but the project has a total investment framework of approximately €730.000.
ABOUT VESTRE VIKEN HF
Vestre Viken Hospital Trust provides hospital services, as well as special health care services for 500,000 people in 22 municipalities.
These services are provided in close cooperation with the primary health care services of the municipalities in which Vestre Viken Hospital Trust is active. vestreviken.no
A correct understanding of the situation
Being able to see the same thing as the caller means fewer misunderstandings – and thereby a better overview of the situation for the health professional assessor at the call centre, who will decide whether a video call should be initiated.
“For the dispatcher at the emergency services call centre, a video feed will provide a better understanding of the situation in acute emergencies, which could thereby potentially save more lives. There is a need for a user-friendly, secure and fast solution for video calls to emergency call centres which will also ensure protection for sensitive and confidential information for both the patient, the caller and the healthcare staff,”
Hvad er erfaringen med indringervideo?
Værktøjet blev oprindeligt udviklet til brug i forbindelse med alarmopkald, og erfaringerne er gode. Løsningen har været i brug over 2000 gange, siden Hordaland 110 som den første norske central sendte en sms til en indringe i april 2019. Efterfølgende er løsningen blevet brugt i forbindelse med en lang række alarmopkald.
The goal is to begin testing at the Drammen emergency services call centre shortly
Innovation partnership – a collaboration between the private and public sector
Innovation partnerships are public-private partnerships in which the Norwegian municipalities and authorities join forces with the business community to develop completely new solutions to current and future societal challenges.
In addition to the financial support received by the project, Innovation Norway, the Research Council of Norway, the National Programme for Supplier Development and the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency will provide consultation services and expertise during the project
period.
Easier to dispatch the right resources
Espen Presthus and Steinar Smith both works at the emergency services call centre in Vestre Viken, where Espen is the operations manager and safety representative, while Steinar is a shop steward for the nurses at the call centre.
We are very positive about the project. If we can watch a live video feed from the caller, it can give us a better understanding of the patient’s condition, which will make it easier to dispatch the right resources to the patient. Being able to monitor the situation through video images is completely different to just hearing audio and receiving descriptions.
At the same time, it is also important to point out that it is the health professional who will decide whether – and when – video should be used. Video is not necessary in all situations, and there will probably also be situations where video transmission is not possible or advisable – such as if there is poor mobile phone coverage, or if it is necessary to save the battery on the caller’s mobile phone,”
“We are proud and grateful to have this opportunity to contribute with the development of new technology and our experience from similar projects in Denmark and Norway. We look forward to tackling the task together with our partners: Public Intelligence (Odense), KindPeople (Stavanger) and Making Waves (Oslo). Our goal is for the use of technology in practice to create greater security for employees and citizens, and this project in large measure supports that goal,”
