Pilot Cross-Border eHealth Project Shows Promise for Real-Life Impact

The European Patients Smart Open Services (epSOS) project, a pilot programme for cross-border eHealth services, has been operational since April 2012. As demonstrated by the following testimonials, the test run has already enjoyed great success.

epSOS designed a service infrastructure that makes health record systems interoperable across Europe. The epSOS ‘Patient Summary’ provides health professionals the essential information they need to provide care in the case of an unexpected or unscheduled medical situation (e.g. emergency or accident). The epSOS ePrescriptions contain the currently available online prescriptions that could also be dispensed in the patient’s home country at that moment.

Dr. Roberto Zuffada, from an epSOS Project Member in Italy (Hospital Desenzano del Garda), was able to provide a vacationing Estonian patient with a prescription for the medication he had left at home: 
“I am a doctor working at Desenzano emergency room, one of the epSOS operational points of care. Recently, a tourist from Tallin came in to the emergency ward. He had forgotten his medication at home and asked if it was possible to have a new prescription issued at the hospital. I immediately checked if Estonia was one of the countries participating in the epSOS trial. As this was a valid circumstance for the Patient Summary use case, I verified that the patient agreed to take part in the epSOS encounter. He gave remote consent via mobile phone, and I finally had the possibility to access his Patient Summary and find the medicine he needed. I was then in the position to prescribe an equivalent medication available at a local pharmacy. Overall, the steps were very simple, the patient’s cooperation was excellent and we had the chance to experiment in real life how cross-border services can be extensively deployed through Europe.”

Fredrik Lindén, epSOS Project Coordinator, is a cancer patient who has also benefitted from the epSOS programme after forgetting his medication at home:

“A couple of weeks ago, I went to Copenhagen on lunch with my son and granddaughter when I realised I had forgotten the medicines that I need to take before eating at home. I had a look at the epSOS website to locate the services available in Copenhagen. Luckily, there was one right next to where we were. I picked up what I needed along with some other medicines I needed to get from Sweden anyway. The service from the Danish Pharmacy in Sonder Bro was very good, and the pharmacist even did a substitution for some of my meds. If I can use these services, anybody can as I am not what you would call a “digital native”. I would imagine there are and there are plenty of opportunities for others to use these services as well. ”

To find out more about the epSOS initiative, please contact Fredrik Lindén at info@epsos.eu or visit http://www.epsos.eu/.

 

© Picture credit: EPSOS