Rolled out CheckWare in a few months during the pandemic

The Clinic for Mental Health at Sørlandet Hospital focused on ensuring that CheckWare would work optimally for patients, clinicians, and administrative staff alike. They established a productive project group with few members, which ensured a record-fast process. The acquisition took place in May 2020, the project was set up in August, and the hospital started implementation in November of the same year.

On March 12, 2020— the day Norway went into lockdown— Sørlandet Hospital was about to start planning the Remote Follow-up II project. This project included video consultations, digitization of assessments, and e-management. The goal was to gradually begin implementing video consultations within the clinic. They had run a preliminary project in the autumn of 2019 and were ready to accelerate the project.

- We had a great need to digitize our assessments. It’s about standardizing and ensuring that the same assessments are used throughout the organization. There IS an expectation from our patients and staff that we also digitize within healthcare. By implementing CheckWare, we could achieve much more professional processes than the many manual ones we had before,” says Gro Merete Grønvold Eilertsen at the Clinic for Mental Health, Sørlandet Hospital.

She has worked for several years on digitizing service offerings and has been responsible for implementing eMestring, CheckWare, and the use of videoconferencing in therapy. Sørlandet Hospital’s overall goal was to get started quickly.

- When we saw where this was heading, we fast-tracked the implementation of video consultations in the clinic. We got a real push from the pandemic, which changed a lot. At the acquisition meeting with CheckWare, I was actually at my cabin. The decision to implement was made between May and June after Helse Sør-Øst formally made an acquisition possible through Sykehusinnkjøp. We established the project after the summer break in August and started implementing CheckWare at the end of the year,” Eilertsen explains.

On a daily basis, she works as a professional advisor in the clinic director's staff at the Clinic for Mental Health.

Strong anchoring and close dialogue throughout the process

- The process we have had with CheckWare is a good example that it is possible to implement new technology without taking a very long time. I have honestly never been part of the introduction of a new service that has gone so fast, says Bjørg Lindevik.

She has worked in the mercantile unit at the Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ABUP) at Sørlandet Hospital since 1999. Since 2020, Lindevik has held the position of consultant at ABUP, which has included a role as the clinic’s system manager in the project related to the implementation of CheckWare at the Clinic for Mental Health (KPH).

- It went so quickly because, among other things, we had very good dialogue with CheckWare along the way, believes Gro Merete Grønvold Eilertsen.
Lindevik adds:

- We have had a super productive group that, among other things, created all the user guides we needed. All training was conducted digitally. I think the fact that no other external parties were involved is the key to how we were able to move so quickly. We avoided all detours and had some passionate individuals who wanted this in place super fast, she believes.

In addition, the anchoring and checkpoints of the project went smoothly:

- We have had solid leadership support to be able to implement and introduce CheckWare. That has given us the leeway to roll it out so quickly. A steering group backed us and approved everything we planned in the project, including our choices regarding how we chose to manage this, she says.

Clear role distribution is key

Both Lindevik and Eilertsen repeatedly highlight the follow-up from CheckWare.

- We have excellent dialogue, both in support, with our customer contact, and with the developer. We get quick feedback, are open in the dialogue, and play off each other, I really like that. They respond to me, then I share my input. Then we solve it together, which I really appreciate, says Bjørg Lindevik.

With a pragmatic approach, they today ensure that clinicians who do not use the system still receive full support from the administrative staff in the departments at KPH. Gro Eilertsen has all along been focused on implementing a system that simplifies and eases the burdens in the clinical daily routine:

- That is what we experience CheckWare does. I have a clinical role while Bjørg looks at other aspects. We are concerned that the tool should be intuitive, does it actually work as it should? It absolutely does. In addition, we have made some choices that CheckWare has helped facilitate, specifically to make it as easy as possible for the clinicians, she explains.

It is an advantage that the forms appear simple for the patients. Some clinicians set limitations because they have a complex patient group, while it turns out the patients are very clear: They want it digital!

For Lindevik, it means regardless that clinicians should not spend too much time on the system itself but focus on the treatment and the patients.

- It is the administrative staff who have the most extended access to use CheckWare. This is so that the clinician does not have to spend unnecessary time on yet another system. If the clinician does not want to use CheckWare themselves, the tasks can still be carried out. All reports come into DIPS and there they must be handled. At the same time, secretaries can perform everything for them in CheckWare, says the consultant and mentions that the secretaries have expressed that it is a very easy system to use.

- There is nothing that can be done without it being corrected, there are no errors that can have serious consequences. There are security measures all the way, at every level, says Lindevik.

We have excellent dialogue, both in support, with our customer contact, and with the developer. We get quick feedback, are open in the dialogue, and play off each other, I really like that. They respond to me, then I share my input. Then we solve it together, which I really appreciate.

Has established a dedicated CheckWare forum

The hospital experiences that many want more information about CheckWare. Therefore, they have established a dedicated CheckWare forum that held its first meeting in May. Between 25 and 30 people dropped by.

- We have planned four meetings a year. It is an open meeting we do digitally so that everyone can drop by. This is something that creates interest among the clinicians, who begin to reflect on how they can actively use the tool in their daily work, says Eilertsen and talks about enthusiasm and engagement that is contagious:

- We have had many clinicians and administrative staff who have found this enjoyable, who have seen the opportunities and been enthusiastic when the setup has been presented. It creates so many positive ripple effects when one can enthusiastically do something both useful and inspiring. It is important to be service-oriented. As soon as something bogs down, Bjørg is there. Therefore, we do not experience the typical introduction issues of new systems – yet another system that does not work as it should! When it doesn’t work, Bjørg takes it further with CheckWare and has very good dialogue in that regard. It always gets resolved quickly, says psychologist Gro Merete Grønvold Eilertsen at Sørlandet Hospital.

We have had many clinicians and administrative staff who have found this enjoyable, who have seen the opportunities and been enthusiastic when the setup has been presented. It creates so many positive ripple effects when one can enthusiastically do something both useful and inspiring.

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