With the support of EHTEL member, the Norwegian Centre for E-health Research
Norway is working hard to improve the quality of patient data and the speed with which it can be retrieved. Research institutions can really help to enhance societally important elements of patient data. The Norwegian Centre for E-health Research, an EHTEL member, has made dramatic steps forward in this field, both announced in 2021.
Electronic phenotyping: a new technique to process patients' data
A thorough analysis of patient data can boost good patient care. Right now, 80 per cent of patient data in Norway is unstructured. A new technique called “electronic phenotyping” can help with the processing of this data. Based on the development of an algorithm, it can be applied to large, and even extremely large, datasets. Not only can the analysis help in research, but also in administration and in clinical coding. The Norwegian Centre for E-health Research, Alexandra Makhlysheva, has written up the details in an informative report. She gave attendees at EHTEL’s 2019 EHTEL Symposium an exciting first insight into this work:
- Download the EHTEL 2019 Symposium report (PDF) for more information
Extracting data: towards a national system for patient (health) records
IT tools can help assure data quality. Norway has come up with a tool that can play a key role in extracting data without compromising its sensitivity. This unique new method can produce a report on relevant data in 22 seconds. It provides an important step in moving Norway towards a national system for patient (health) records. More specifically, it can help in reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics. The initiative has been supportive of Norway’s fight to reduce antibiotic use by 30 per cent by 2020. The technique is now being applied by the international multi-stakeholder data collaborative on observational health data sciences and informatics (OHDSI).
More on Norway's work on accurate data
The Norwegian Centre for E-health Research is one of almost 80 Norwegian partners that have grouped together to get accurate and quick scientific and clinical data out to the public. Universities and colleges, foundations, and other scientific institutions, all work together to synthesise their findings and transform them into reader-friendly articles. Available in both the English and Norwegian languages, ScienceNorway.no is well worth a scan.
For detailed reports on topics like health data quality and responses to COVID-19, see the Norwegian Centre for E-health Research’s news desk partner website.
