Remote healthcare preferable for many patients

Care at a distance – Telemedicine

Care at a distance – Telemedicine – is one of the focus areas for the innovation work at Karolinska University Hospital. We develop solutions for care at a distance, together with external partners. Watch a video about telemedicine at Karolinska University Hospital:

• Videovisits – simple and secure (video)

Shorter waiting times for severe Parkinson's disease

Remote neurology consultations: Shorter waiting times to see specialists, no “unnecessary” referrals and timely advanced medical care. These are the results of video consultations between the patient’s local neurologist and the Parkinson's specialist at Karolinska University Hospital.

Reduced waiting time for specialist assessment  – from 6 months to 1 week

Referrals that do not lead to advanced forms of treatment – from 90% to 0%

Partners: Department of Neurology at Karolinska, Neuro Clinic at Sophiahemmet, Neurologi Jaan Albo AB at Vällingby Läkarhus and AbbVie.

Patients can remain at home while medications are adjusted

Home titration for Parkinson’s disease: Advanced treatment of Parkinson’s disease previously required patients to be hospitalized for several days in order to adjust their medication dose. Now this can be done using video communication and patients can remain at home with their families and continue working.

Hospitalization per patient reduced from 9 days to 3 days

Partners: Department of Neurology at Karolinska University Hospital, the university hospitals in Skåne, Linköping and Uppsala, as well as AbbVie and Atea.

Fewer hospital visits – better contact with healthcare

Video visits in outpatient care: Video visits are highly beneficial for patients who need frequent contact with the healthcare system. Avoiding unnecessary trips to the hospital is particularly important for people with chronic diseases or disabilities. 

More options for contact make the healthcare system more accessible and patients feel more secure. Video visits can also relieve the burden on the emergency room – there is no longer any need to go there as often.

The Center for Innovation team has focused on user-friendliness. And video visits have been surprisingly uncomplicated.

Video visits may actually provide a solution for some patients to get any care at all, as in the case of patients with multiple diagnoses who do not have the strength to get to the hospital. Another group is young people being treated for overweight.

“They may have difficulty combining school with regularly scheduled office visits. Many also feel uncomfortable about coming to an overweight clinic and fail to show for scheduled appointments,” says Anna Hägg, dietician at the Obesity Center, who has had positive experiences with contact with her patients by video.

Specialists can reach more patients 

Surgeons guide procedures remotely: The Gastro Center at Karolinska is currently guiding – via video link – colleagues around the country who carry out ERCP-assisted surgery to operate gallstones, cirrhosis and cancer. This endoscopic surgical technique allows the surgeon to gain access through body orifices instead of incisions.

Karolinska University Hospital is home to some of Sweden’s leading endoscopists who can now share their knowledge with other surgeons. Patient safety increases while the risks of complications and re-operation decrease.

To reach even more patients, parallel guidance is now being implemented – an expert at Karolinska can guide three procedures. Simultaneously.

Partners: Gastro Center at Karolinska, Södersjukhuset Hospital, Visby Hospital, Skaraborgs Hospital in Skövde, Gävle Hospital and Södertälje Hospital, as well as Boston Scientific and Polycom.

Curious about new solutions?

The Center for Innovation assists Karolinska’s services with technology and working methods that function in everyday clinical practice. We are also developing new remote care solutions along with external parties.

Coordinator for telemedicine development:

Contact

Kristina Groth, Responsible for Telemedicine Development
MoPhone: +46 (0) 70 085 66 64
E-mail: Kristina Groth