Search results

Service alignment between health service provider and patient is changing. Instead of placing responsibilities into the hands of a provider, new forms of co-operation are emerging in which patients are regarded as a resource and a partner. In order to see this vision come to life, mechanisms that: first, support patient’s health decision making; and second, integrate matters of health into a wider ensemble that is health space; the overarching state of health-related affairs, are needed. In the following, these kinds of mechanisms are investigated and their applicability is discussed in relation to a national project. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The work is exploratory and conceptual, focussing more on people than on technology. In the work, findings related to a concept of a health navigator; an artefact of personal health decision support, are assembled into a framework that bases on key sociological theories. The empirical elements focus on observations made on applicability of the concept, and the underlying framework of citizen-centric electronic health services.

The authors argue that the discussed concept, when applied to personal health decision making according to the underlying framework, has a potential to change health service provisioning. In addition to stimulating new kind of co-operation between the health service provider and the citizen, the concept gives form to, somewhat idealized, notions of patient choice and empowerment.

The work described here is exploratory and forward-looking. Even though the concept and the framework are tested to a degree in a national project, more practice-oriented work is needed in terms of real-world applicability. It follows from this that the work is a conceptual elaboration on the future of personal health decision making.

The findings, including the discussed challenges and needs, stem from real-world observations; from the needs of citizens. As such, they indicate a direction into which the development of personal health records and health decision support aids should go.

Scandinavian research in systems development can be grouped into three major traditions, based on quite different ideologies and theories: the systems theoretical school, the socio‐technical school and the critical school. The differences between these schools are closely related to the historical and social contexts in which they developed. External political, economic and cultural factors have strongly influenced research in this field. In particular, the basic theoretical differences between the schools reflect their different interpretations of the relationship between capital and labour.

It is essential for professionals to have flexible access to information sources and interaction with clients and colleagues. Mobile phones, e‐mail, pagers, laptops, and PCs all aim to facilitate the flexibility necessary for conducting their work. Ideally, professionals with intense demands on their time should not be supported by various information and interaction technologies, they should embed core domesticated technologies. This paper examines how the vision of iniquitous ICT support for professional work meets the harsh realities through interviews with 16 individual professionals from 16 different organisations. The paper aims to answer the question of the applicability and reality of ubiquitous computing in today's work environment and where technology is in terms of limitations for the professional. The study demonstrates that the joint life of professionals and their technologies is not one best characterised by the technical and the social merging seamlessly. It is instead one burdened by constant attention.

The purpose of this paper is to show that most, if not all RFID/biometric passports have clear technical and social problems in their intended use and that there are clear problems with the databases into which biometric data are being collected, due to use of this data for other (publicly), non‐intended uses.

The approach of this paper is both a meta‐study of the flaws in the technological specifications as well as the social implementation of RFID/biometric passports. Finland is used as a case, but the results extend beyond Finland in most, if not all the topics presented – not necessarily all results to all implementations, but all to some others.

The current implementations of RFID/biometric passports are lacking in both technical and social implementations and pose clear risks to their use, both due to lax implementation of the technology itself but specifically due to the social changes brought about. These problems cause both erosion of privacy and trust.

Further research into other potential social implications on a national level is required. The authors fear that the cases presented do not necessarily reflect all the potential problems, but just the most evident ones.

The problems with the technological implications can be averted by using the best technological solutions, and thus the best technological solutions should be used instead of the ones proven to be lacking.

The social implications should at least be brought forth for public discourse and acknowledged, which currently does not seem to happen.

The paper contributes to the understanding of problems with current RFID/biometric passport implementations as well as inherent social problems that are hard, if not impossible to avoid. The problems belong under the category of critical eGovernment applications, and similar issues are visible in other eGovernment applications.