The District Psychiatric Center at Sørlandet Hospital is very pleased to have contributed to the fact that the number of CheckWare assessments has reached a new milestone. - It’s really exciting that the eight-millionth landed with us, says Gro Merete Grønvold Eilertsen at the Clinic for Mental Health, Sørlandet Hospital.
- Given the history and how long we have been focused on getting the setup in place, I think this is really fun, says Eilertsen, who is a clinical neuropsychologist.
Already in 2016, the Clinic for Mental Health at Sørlandet Hospital wanted to initiate a collaboration with EG CheckWare, but it was not until the autumn of 2019 that a pilot project was launched. On the day Norway shut down in 2020, the hospital had actually planned to hold a kickoff meeting for the main project for remote follow-up, in which EG CheckWare was part. That day, the clinic ended up implementing video consultations instead.
- We started the project at the same time as the pandemic, so we got a really good push, says Gro Merete Grønvold Eilertsen, who daily works as a professional advisor in the clinic director’s staff at the Clinic for Mental Health – Psychiatry and Addiction Treatment.
In recent years, she has among other things worked on digitalizing the service offerings and been project manager for the project “Remote Follow-up II”, with responsibility for implementing eMestring, EG CheckWare, and the use of videoconferencing in therapy.
- It is important that we have fun, that’s what also makes things with CheckWare work. We have had many clinicians and administrative staff who have found this enjoyable, who have seen the possibilities and been enthusiastic when the program has been presented, she says and continues:
- It creates so many positive ripple effects when you can enthusiastically do something that is both useful and inspiring.
Fun to present EG CheckWare to people
So far this year, Sørlandet Hospital has sent out 51,000 assessments to its patients. The eight-millionth assessment from EG CheckWare was issued at the hospital on May 4 this year.
One month later they received cake at the District Psychiatric Center (DPS) Solvang, a specialist health service in psychiatry for residents over 18 years old in Vest-Agder.
Gro Merete Grønvold Eilertsen believes that the support and internal help they have, especially from Bjørg Lindevik and the administrative unit, is invaluable.
- The fact that CheckWare forms engage people has a lot to do with us having a fun program to present to people. I have liked the tool from day one, and then it’s easier to present it well, says Bjørg Lindevik.
Since 1999, she has worked in the mercantile unit at the Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ABUP) at Sørlandet Hospital. 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 EG CheckWare at the Clinic for Mental Health (KPH).
- I am very satisfied with the follow-up from CheckWare. We have excellent dialogue, both with support, our customer contact, and the developer. We get quick feedback, are open in the dialogue, and complement each other, which I like a lot, says Bjørg Lindevik and adds
- We have longed for solutions like CheckWare, and the expectations have truly been met. Now I’m really looking forward to what comes next. You really feel at home at CheckWare.
Simple language is key
The use of EG CheckWare’s assessment solutions is increasing rapidly. The seven-million mark was passed in October last year, an increase of one million assessments in eight months. Cake was then sent to Kronstad DPS in Bergen.
Now seven months have passed, and a new milestone is being celebrated.
- The cake thing is kind of fun. It’s easy to dismiss, but when we got the request I thought, ‘Yeah, we should celebrate a few special people among us!’ In my eyes, it’s completely natural to give it to the administrative staff at DPS Solvang, because they have been very on top of everything the whole time, says Lindevik, who got an enthusiastic response when she told DPS Solvang about the milestone.
At the same time, she asked the representative how the system has worked for them.
Lindevik believes that simple language is a key ingredient in the recipe for success and creates the basis for a proper dialogue between customer and supplier:
- CheckWare's solution has an accessible format, it is made in simple language. That also makes it easier to have a good dialogue between us. I really appreciate that it isn’t IT jargon, neither when we are developing the product together nor when getting feedback on support cases from CheckWare. That means even I, who is over 50 and without an IT education, “catch” it quickly. I think that’s really great!
