Best Practices: IDC Health Insights Study Evaluates Norway's Hospital Evolution

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MILAN, Italy and FRAMINGHAM, Mass., September 14, 2009– IDCHealth Insights recently released a new report, which explores two initiativesundertaken in Norway, each of them involving an early adoption of digitalhospital technologies. St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim and Ahus Hospital inOslo have both successfully introduced integrated hospital networks in newlybuilt facilities, and there are many similarities and some differences.

JanDuffy, research director, IDC Health Insights said, "Healthcare in generaland hospitals in particular are undergoing radical change. This is needed tosupport increasing demands in the face of rising costs. New ways of deliveringpatient care and new ways of delivering the information infrastructure tosupport this effort involves a major shift to something called the digitalhospital."

Inthe early 1990s, Norway commenced planning the replacement of certainhospitals, in particular those with aging infrastructure and construction thatdefied efforts to improve efficiency and/or modernize the facilities. Theplanning process for rebuilding St. Olavs Hospital (St. Olavs) in Trondheimcommenced in 1991 and plans to rebuild Akershus University Hospital (Ahus) inOslo were initiated in 2001. Their journey toward the digital hospital is wellunderway.

"Althoughboth projects involved full replacement of old facilities, the approachesdiffered. St. Olavs would be a campus-like facility with 6 clinical centersbuilt around a central plaza, while Ahus was to be a large multipurposefacility. At the time of this report, the new hospital facilities in bothcities are fully operational and are considered to be great successes byhospital staff and patients alike," continued Duffy. "The path towardthe digital hospital is difficult – there is no single solution, no singlestarting point, and no definite endpoint. The future for St. Olavs and Ahuslies in their shared view that the development of a digital hospital is ajourney, not a destination. Over time, new technologies, new medicalprocedures, and new demands will result in changes to the system andimprovements to patient care."

St.Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Central Norway

At the start of the 1990s, St. Olavs was experiencing difficultymanaging care and treatment requirements. Looking forward to 2020, it could beseen that aging population, the higher incidence of chronic diseases, andrising costs of care, would make the situation much more challenging. Thevision was a hospital environment with maximum flexibility and a technicalinfrastructure that was "future-proofed."

Theconstruction schedule was thus spread over some 10 years. "Efficient"and "flexible" were very high on the list of requirements for the newhospital development. The list of supplied hardware for completing this projectis impressive, but equally important and more critical to project success isthe integration between previously standalone ICT, maximum transmission unit(MTU), and building systems. The project boasts 120 points of IT integration aswell as 67 points of external integrations (versus medical-technical equipmentand building systems).

Implementingthe ICT was a large, complex project requiring a significant amount of two-waycommunication among team members and a high degree of vested interest in eachother's success. Learning from each other was a significant element of therelationship, which was considered strategic by all partners.

Thehospital-wide network is wireless, and provides a secure, scaleable, resilient,and responsive environment with 99.9% uptime capability. The network supports awide range of devices including IP-based patient terminals, nurse call systems,a guest zone, and integration with all notification and alarm systems.

Thestaff and patients of St. Olavs consider the hospital development to be a greatsuccess. The more significant benefits include increased capacity, improvedproductivity, reduced costs, and improved access to data has contributedsignificantly to better patient care.

Lessonslearned

There are many similarities between the St. Olavs and Ahus Hospitalprojects. Both were aiming to provide an environment that offered enhancedpatient care, a better working environment, and improved efficiency. Bothembarked on a journey that would ultimately lead to a leading-edge digitalhospital. The solutions had some similarities and involved some of the samesuppliers. However, there were also some differences.

Thebiggest difference was in the time frame. The St. Olavs project began when thetechnologies were very young and, in some instances, still unproven in ahospital setting. St. Olavs chose to build a multibuilding facility, whereasmost of the Ahus facility is housed in a single large building. In terms of IT,St. Olavs chose both a single vendor solution and the outsourced solution.Ahus, on the other hand, chose a multivendor solution, retention of some legacysystems, and an IT environment that is managed internally. Today, both hospitalsare fully operational and both are considered to be great successes by hospitalstaff and patients.

Moredetails are included in the IDC Health Insights report,

Best Practices:Norway's Hospital Evolution — A Tale of Two Cities

(Doc # HIOH03R9/Aug 2009), by Jan Duffy and Silvia Piai, available for purchase athttp://www.idc-hi.com

Formedia enquiries or more information onhow to get a copy of this report, please contact Cinzia Rinelliat +39 02 28457 367 andcrinelli@idc.com.

About IDC Health Insights

IDCHealth Insights provides health and life sciences industry executives, and thesuppliers who serve them, with market research and advisory services. Thecompany's integrated coverage spans the entire health industry value chain andclosely follows the payer, provider and life sciences markets with specialemphasis on developing and employing strategies that leverage IT investments tomaximize organizational performance. Staffed by expert analysts and consultantswith extensive industry experience, IDC Health Insights delivers a portfolio ofofferings that are relevant to both IT and business needs. IDC is a subsidiaryof IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and events company. Formore information, go towww.idc-hi.com.

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