Development project will lead to the world’s best e-health

In a new research and development project at MDU, innovation researchers are investigating how e-health and digitisation in healthcare is used, implemented and further developed. Most significantly, the results from the project will contribute to the development of support tools and new ways of working in managing and organising the digital transformation. This forms part of the efforts to make Sweden world-leading in e-health. The project will be run in co-production with Region Sörmland.

Swedish healthcare’s vision is to become a world leader in e-health, where digital tools and a digital exchange of information are used to both achieve and maintain health. Researchers at MDU, together with Region Sörmland, have now received funding from Vinnova for a new project that will investigate what constitutes good experiences for managing and organising a digital transformation and a digital maturity in the public sector, regarding introducing and increasing the usage of new e-health services. They will also investigate what enables the dynamic ability, that is, the ability to absorb changes, analyse and act based on them.

“Experiences from the region's own e-health and digitisation efforts, as well as previous research on various digitisation initiatives, show that there are major challenges when it comes to developing and introducing innovative digitisation solutions in the public sector,” says Peter E Johansson, Project Manager at MDU.

Previous research shows a need for knowledge among organisations about what contributes to building their ability to restructure and use their resources in new ways. The need for knowledge also applies to how to understand these abilities and how they are developed in practice,” according to Peter E Johansson.

Developing support tools and new ways of working

During the project, researchers will investigate what can increase this knowledge, for instance through field observations and interviews with key parties of the various needs’ owners in the region. This is done through what is known as interactive research, where research and development efforts are conducted in an integral way through discussions between researchers and stakeholders.

“Key people from the needs owners in the region are co-creators of this fresh knowledge,” says Peter E Johansson.

The project is expected to develop support tools and approaches which can contribute to organisational learning leading to an increased dynamic capability of the health care system. In addition, it will lead to the successful development of the introduction and use of new e-health services.