This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

TTRN CPH 2022: "Digital Health beyond COVID-19: Lessons Learned" (37)

Published on in Vol 8, No 1 (2022): Jan-Dec

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/41680, first published .
Sundhed.dk and MyHealth During the Corona Storm

Sundhed.dk and MyHealth During the Corona Storm

Sundhed.dk and MyHealth During the Corona Storm

Authors of this article:

Morten Elbæk Petersen1 Author Orcid Image
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    Abstract

    Social Sciences, Sundhed.dk, København Ø, Denmark

    Corresponding Author:

    Morten Elbæk Petersen, MSc

    Social Sciences

    Sundhed.dk

    Dampfærgevej 22

    København Ø

    Denmark

    Phone: 45 44222080

    Email: mep@sundhed.dk


    Background: The Danish eHealth portal, sundhed.dk, pioneers open access to medical records since 2003 and is, in this regard, unique worldwide. As part of the Danish health care sector, sundhed.dk supports transparency and patient empowerment and provides health professionals with the possibility to access patient health data outside of local systems and across sectors and boundaries. Sundhed.dk and the MyHealth app have played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark, not least due to the development of the corona passport.

    Objective: The overall purpose during the COVID-19 pandemic has been to assist the health authorities handling the pandemic and to support patient empowerment. Sundhed.dk provided new digital services to support monitoring the spread of the virus and telemedicine solutions to support the Danish citizens both during isolation and as the society was gradually reopening.

    Methods: By exploiting sundhed.dk’s known and widespread position in the society and the already existing digital building blocks, sundhed.dk and MyHealth managed to provide fast and easy access to COVID-19 laboratory responses and, on top of that, to develop the corona passport, which was the result of accelerated IT development and fast scaling of the required server with the users.

    Results: The many digital services accessible through sundhed.dk or MyHealth made it possible for Danish citizens to continue to see their doctor or physiotherapist during lockdown. Moreover, the corona passport made the safe and efficient reopening of Denmark possible.

    Conclusions: The story of sundhed.dk during the COVID-19 pandemic is a story of success, a result of its close interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation with Danish health authorities and private IT vendors. It illustrates what can be achieved when there is a unified blueprint and overall purpose to overcome barriers in order to ensure development and progress for both the individual and the society. This has also drawn global attention, as reflected in a report by the World Health Organization.

    iproc 2022;8(1):e41680

    doi:10.2196/41680

    Keywords

    e-learning; eHealth; medical records 

    Conflicts of Interest

    None declared.

    Edited by B Dinesen; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 04.08.22; accepted 19.08.22; published 23.08.22

    Copyright

    ©Morten Elbæk Petersen. Originally published in Iproceedings (https://www.iproc.org), 23.08.2022.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in Iproceedings, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.iproc.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.