Unique health information
Trondheim’s new university hospital will get a unique learning and presentation system. Spectacular technology will present medical knowledge, treatment and research.
8. Jun 2012 15:56 8. Jun 2012 16:12
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| The wall: This is how the huge wall might appear in the Knowledge Centre when it is finished in 2013. | |
The high-tech project entitled the Knowledge Portal will communicate new insights to patients and next of kin, employees, scientists, students and everyone else who visit St. Olavs Hospital.
Parts of the portal will be interactive, similar to the technology at the award winning museum Rockheim, also located in Trondheim. At Rockheim the movement of your own body enable you to "enter" the various exhibitions. The exhibition at the hospital will be of a similar character and make it possible to find health information from different fields at St. Olavs and the university’s Faculty of Medicine.
- With this portal we hope to make the hospital more open to the world around us. We want to invite the public to the hospital and make our knowledge available to the public, explains Nils Kvernmo, Managing Director at St. Olavs, and Stig Slørdahl, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. According to Slørdahl the new portal will be an important arena for students.
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| Signing: Sitting (from left to right) Adam Fry, Sony, and Kjell Olav Lyngsmo, Helsebygg. Behind: Stig Slørdahl, NTNU, and Jan Morten Søraker, St. Olavs Hospital. The partners met at the building site where the Knowledge Portal will dominate the entrance to the Knowledge Centre. Photo: synlig.no | |
On the 25th of May Helsebygg and Sony put pen to paper on their agreement, and Sony will deliver the technical installations and multimedia know-how for interactive learning. Sony is a leading supplier of AV/IT-solutions in the fields of media, surveillance and health technology.
- We are extremely happy to be part of this project. Sony’s vision is to communicate good stories through the very best imagining technology. With a 40 square metre wall of screens, the public will get access to a unique and interactive insight into the stories and day-to-day running of the hospital, says Vidar Liverød from Sony Professional Europe.
Sony won the assignment in competition with other suppliers. Helsebygg finance technology and assembly, as part of the larger development project at Øya, whilst the hospital and university will provide content, operation and maintenance of the portal. The total cost is approximately 46 million NOK including content production, operation and maintenance for three years.
- It is no small task we are starting, but the upsides for the hospital and the Faculty of Medicine are huge, says Kvernmo and Slørdahl.
- This project could have a huge effect on our reputation, and make many students, scientists, businesses, patients and next of kin look in our direction. Access to information is essential to make patients and next of kin feel safe and secure. In light of this the project can become a helpful tool to secure good cooperation between employees, patients and students, according to Slørdahl and Kvernmo. The Managing Director adds:
- The fact that the development projects at Øya have been completed under budget makes this investment possible. In many ways this has the potential to become the new university hospital’s signature.
Bjørn Remen, Director of Helsebygg, underlines the fact that a modern university hospital has to provide good communication and learning at the very highest technological level.
- That is why we decided to enter the project along with the hospital and the university, he says.
The most visible part of the portal is the huge wall of screens in the west wing of the new Knowledge Centre. The wall will have several interactive zones where up to five simultaneous users can embark on personal, virtual travels in the university hospital. The main storyline will tell the story of the hospital, whilst each user can choose to enter any clinic or institute at any given time.
The user can also browse the history of the development of the hospital on an interactive column. How is the hospital planned? How is it managed? Which solutions have been chosen, and why?
All the information made available through the portal will also be available on other platforms outside the Knowledge Centre. The information available through the interactive wall will be available on computers, smart phones and tablets.
A massive information archive will be the base of the Knowledge Portal, containing information provided by the most important contributors. The new technology makes it possible to distribute the information both within the hospital organisation and between the hospital and other health services.
Who will use the Knowledge Portal – and for what?
EMPLOYEES: When a patient at the hospital asks a nurse about what will happen before, during and after surgery the information can be accessed and used to visualise the procedure for employees, patients and next of kin.
SCIENTISTS: The research activity at the hospital is set to increase. A central information archive will ease the access to information for scientists.
STUDENTS: "Self directed learning" is important. Every user can search for the specific information they need, and use this to specialize in different fields. The students at the Faculty of Medicine will get to know one of the most modern university hospitals in Europe.
PATIENTS: The portal is a source of information about both diagnoses and treatments, which will be communicated through a "virtual family." Information from different fields are tied together and create an opportunity for interactive learning, where the patients can search for the information they require. This virtual journey could start at home, even before the patient goes to the hospital through other platforms.
NEXT OF KIN: Family and friends often want information when their close ones are hospitalised – the portal is a source of information for everyone.
VISITORS: The actual installations in the Knowledge Centre will attract many visitors. They can be used for educational purposes during official visits and be an arena for learning for everyone who visit the centre.
