The combination of declining birth rates and an aging Swedish population presents challenges for the government in terms of accommodating and providing for the needs of a larger and older population. This demographic shift will exert significant pressure on the public sector, particularly the healthcare system. The potential of digitized healthcare to address the challenges posed by the aging population is significant, and mHealth technologies may be part of the solution to addressing these challenges. This study seeks to examine and quantify the key factors that influence the attitudes of young elderly (ages 45-60) individuals in Sweden towards the adoption of mHealth technologies. Specifically, the research aims to assess the factors that impact willingness to adopt technologies for managing primary healthcare needs. By identifying and measuring these influencing factors, the study strives to contribute to a better understanding of the drivers behind the adoption of mHealth solutions among this demographic. The study employs a single-method research design with a deductive empirical approach, using an online survey to collect quantitative data through a snowballing sampling technique. The study introduced three new variables (General Technology Experience, Healthcare Technology Experience, and Security and Privacy) and three new moderators (Being a Parent, Highest Level of Education, and Frequency of Primary Care Visits) to the widely recognized UTAUT framework. The results were analyzed using Excel and SPSS to identify patterns, relationships, and trends that emerged from the empirical data. Via analysis of the collected survey data, it was found that Performance Expectancy strongly influences the adoption of mHealth technologies among young elderly Swedes. Social Influence and Security and Privacy have minimal impact on adoption decisions. Security and Privacy show a negative correlation to willingness to adopt, indicating mistrust. Higher education levels are associated with digital literacy and belief in technology's job performance benefits. Lower education levels correlate with higher social influence. Individuals visiting primary care 2-3 times a year exhibit higher technology experience and social influence.

In recent years there has been an exponential growth of private digital healthcare providers (or “net-doctors” as they are commonly called) in Sweden. Traditionally public healthcare in Sweden has been divided amongst the regions, but with the emergence of net-doctors came the first “national healthcare”. This development has not been without controversy and net-doctors have been critiqued and challenged in the media on multiple occasions.This thesis attempts to explain the emergence of these net-doctors, and how the legitimacy of netdoctors and digital healthcare was negotiated in public debate. It does so by reviewing the history of the Swedish public healthcare system, as well as highlighting important political shifts, changes in legislation, policy, and technological developments. It also includes a study on the debate surrounding these net-doctors, focusing on how they are portrayed, challenged, and defended in the media. It also studies the net-doctor’s responses to said challenges. The results indicate that a combination of market discourse constructions, inertia, and technological development created an opening in the Swedish primary healthcare field. It also indicates that how net-doctors are constructed, be it as a solution or a problem, has remained relatively consistent over time but that the challenges to their legitimacy may have led to a questioning of who should be doing digital healthcare / Under de senaste åren har privata digitala sjukvårdsaktörer (eller nätläkare som de ofta kallas i folkmun) vuxit kraftigt i Sverige. Traditionellt har varje enskild region haft ansvar för att organisera primärvården, men med etableringen av nätläkare har en marknad som täcker hela nationen vuxit fram. Liksom många samhällsförändringar har utvecklingen av nationellt täckande digital primärvård i privat regi väckt samhällsdebatt och nätläkarna har regelbundet blivit kritiserade och utmanade i media. Den här uppsatsen syftar till att förklara hur och varför nätläkare fick utrymme att etablera sig inom den offentligt finansierade primärvården. För att förklara nätläkarnas fortsatta framväxt har legitimitet identifierats som en viktig faktor. Därför behandlar uppsatsen även hur legitimitet har utmanats och införskaffats. Uppsatsen nyttjar en fallstudiemetod i kombination med Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys där det huvudsakliga objektet är nätläkarföretaget Kry. Primärvårdens historia, politiska skiften, lagändringar och teknologisk utveckling undersöks för att förklara hur nätläkare fick utrymme att etablera sig. För att undersöka hur legitimitet konstrueras och utmanas nyttjar uppsatsen kritisk diskursanalys av nyhetsartiklar publicerade mellan 2014-2021 i tre väletablerade tidningar samt två statliga offentliga utredningar. Fokus för diskursanalysen var att sammanfatta hur valfrihet, privata aktörer och konkurrens konstrueras i SOU:erna samt hur dessa påverkat konstruktionen av nätläkare i media samt deras legitimitet. Uppsatsens resultat indikerar att en kombination av en växande liberal ideologi, lagändringar, organisatorisk tröghet och teknologisk utveckling skapade en glänta inom den svenska primärvården, inom vilken nätläkarna kunde etablera sig. Resultaten indikerar även att den kritik och utmaningar som riktas mot nätläkarna förhåller sig relativt konsekvent över tid. Även de tekniker som nätläkarna nyttjar för att bygga legitimitet samt hur de porträtterar sig själva är konsekvent över tid. Avslutningsvis indikerar resultaten att det finns ett ifrågasättande av vem som ska leverera digital sjukvård.

I takt med digitalisering och IKTs (informations- och kommunikationsteknik) framväxt skapas nya vårdlösningar för både patienter och vårdgivare. Under Covid-19 pandemin har behovet för alternativa vårdlösningar lett till en ökad användning av digitala vårdtjänster som MinDoktor, Kry och 1177s vårdapp. Dessa digitala vårdtjänster har erbjudit patienter vård på distans då fysiska vårdcentraler inte varit ett lättillgängligt alternativ. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som krävs för att patienter ska uppleva digitala vårdtjänster som förtroendeskapande och -stärkande. En studie med elva medverkande respondenter som använt sig av digitala vårdtjänster genomfördes. Empiri från intervjuerna analyserades och utvärderades för att möjliggöra en representation av de medverkande respondenternas åsikter. Studien bidrar med insikter till hur förtroende för digitala vårdtjänster kan skapas och stärkas för patienter genom tillgång till personlig kontakt, videomöten och företagsrykten. / With the continued growth of digitalization and ICT (Information and communicationtechnology) new healthcare solutions for both patients and healthcare providers have been made readily available. During the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 virus the necessity for digital healthcare options have been made apparent. Services such as MinDoktor, Kry and 1177’s healthcare app have all seen an increase in use. In this study we have conducted research on what patients on digital healthcare apps thought was necessary for them to create and strengthen trust for these applications. The study was conducted with eleven participating respondents who had previously used a digital healthcare app. The empirical data was then analyzed to enable a representation of the participants opinions and thoughts. This study contributes with insights on how trust for digital healthcare can be created and strengthenedfor patients through access to personal contact, video consultations and company reputation.

Identification of risks ahead of MRI examinations is identified as a cumbersome and time-consuming process at the Linköping University Hospital radiology clinic. The hospital staff often have to search through large amounts of unstructured patient data to find information about implants. Word embeddings has been identified as a possible tool to speed up this process. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate this method, and that is done by training a Word2Vec model on patient journal data and analyzing the close neighbours of key search words by calculating cosine similarity. The 50 closest neighbours of each search words are categorized and annotated as relevant to the task of identifying risk patients ahead of MRI examinations or not. 10 search words were explored, leading to a total of 500 terms being annotated. In total, 14 different categories were observed in the result and out of these 8 were considered relevant. Out of the 500 terms, 340 (68%) were considered relevant. In addition, 48 implant models could be observed which are particularly interesting because if a patient have an implant, hospital staff needs to determine it’s exact model and the MRI conditions of that model. Overall these findings points towards a positive answer for the aim of the thesis, although further developments are needed.

The edition features first-rate articles by specialists in the field of healthcare and data security. Apart from that we will face some classical compliance topics and last but not least CEJ Founder Michele DeStefanos new book Legal Upheaval will be introduced and reviewed.

Digital consultations in primary care have the advantage of offering equal healthcare for people residing in the countryside. While it is gaining acceptance among young- and middle-aged people, the elderly are reluctant to use it. The aim of this study was hence to identify reasons for non-use among elderly in the countryside and describe perceived possible challenges and opportunities with digital consultations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 persons over 65 years old residing in the Swedish countryside. There was a mistrust for services offered by private companies and their public funding, a lack of knowledge of available services, and a lack of perceived usefulness. Personal interaction and continuity was more important than time or travel conveniences, although these advantages were recognized. To prevent digital exclusion, caregivers need to offer information, encouragement, or tools for the elderly. Digital primary care also needs to offer familiarity, with continuity and personal connections.

Digital tools are being implemented in every area of society. Digital healthcare, or E-health, is an area that is increasing in popularity with various mobile applications and online services available. Entergate, a company based in Halmstad, has developed a service called EnterMedic. It is a cloud service that collects data from patients through online questionnaires. Once submitted, the service can directly forward data from these questionnaires to patient journals. EnterMedic also helps researchers with data to develop effective work methods in healthcare. The service was however limited to the web. This thesis consists of developing a mobile version of the service as it is more convenient to use compared to a web-based one and research contributing to what E-health applications can be used for. Interactivity is a desired feature for applications. EnterMedic will provide the users with feedback after questionnaire submissions, to help them track their state of health. / Digitala verktyg blir implementerade i alla områden av samhället. Digital hälsovård, eller E-hälsa, är ett område som ökar i populäritet med olika mobiltelefon applikationer och on-line tjänster tillgängliga. Entergate, ett företag baserat i Halmstad, har utvecklat en tjänst som heter EnterMedic. Det ar en moln-tjänst som samlar data från patienter genom online formulär. När dessa skickas in kan tjänsten direkt vidarebefodra datan från formulären till patient journaler. EnterMedic hjälper även forskare med data för att utveckla mer effektiva arbetsmetoder inom hälsovården. Tjänsten är dock begränsad till webben. Det här examensarbetet består av att utveckla en mobil version av tjänsten då det är mer bekvämt att använda jämfört med en webb-baserad tjänst och forskning som bidrar till vad E-hälsa applikationer kan användas för. Interaktivitet är en önskad funktion för applikationer. EnterMedic kommer förse användare med återkoppling efter att ett formulär har skickats in, som i sin tur hjälper dem följa sitt hälsotillstånd.

Blockchain technology has recently gained increased attention. Experts praise it as the “new Internet” for goods. The potential of blockchain technology today is undeniable. Yet, initiatives in other areas, outside the financial sector, are slow to evolve. Academic research shows a lack of studies on how blockchain, as a new disruptive innovation could affect the healthcare system. This paper sets out with the ambition to explore how blockchain technology can affect Sweden’s digital healthcare. More specifically, the study is based on a theoretical analysis. By firstly presenting a literature review on the topic, the theoretical framework based on trust theories, digitalization of the healthcare industry, globalization, data ownership and blockchain technology is developed through an analysis of established theoretical developments. The study proceeds from a constructivist perspective, acknowledging that the healthcare industry, with trends such as globalization and data ownership, could potentially be affected from a disruptive new technology such as blockchain. The findings suggest that blockchain technology could find a promising implementation in the healthcare industry, by creating trust for patient data ownership. However, the technology is still shows limitations and vulnerabilities, and thus cannot be applied immediately.

Accurate predictions of patient volume are an essential tool to improve resource allocation and doctor utilization in the traditional, as well as the digital health care domain. Varying methods for patient volume prediction within the traditional health care domain has been studied in contemporary research, while the concept remains underexplored within the digital health care domain. In this paper, an evaluation of how two different non-linear state-of-the-art time series prediction models compare when predicting patient volume within the digital health care domain is presented. The models compared are the feed forward Multi-layer Percepron (MLP) and the recursive Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network. The results imply that the prediction problem itself is straightforward, while also indicating that there are significant differences in prediction accuracy between the evaluated models. The conclusions presented state that that the LSTM model offers substantial prediction advantages that outweigh the complexity overhead for the given problem. / En korrekt förutsägelse av patientvolym är essentiell för att förbättra resursallokering av läkare inom traditionell liksom digital vård. Olika metoder för förutsägelse av patientvolym har undersökts inom den traditionella vården medan liknande studier inom den digitala sektorn saknas. I denna uppsats undersöks två icke-linjära moderna metoder för tidsserieanalys av patientvolym inom den digitala sjukvården. Modellerna som undersöks är multi-lagersperceptronen (MLP) samt Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) nätverket. Resultaten som presenteras indikerar att problemet i sig är okomplicerat samtidigt som det visar sig finnas signifikanta skillnader i korrektheten av förutsägelser mellan de olika modellerna. Slutsatserna som presenteras pekar på att LSTM-modellen erbjuder signifikanta fördelar som överväger komplexitets- och prestandakostnaden.

The aim of the study is to explore three healthcare apps, Numa, Ella, and Leia Health, and their affordances in digital healthcare. By applying discourse analysis and discursive interface analysis as primary methods, the study investigates reward and motivation features within these apps, aiming to uncover the norms and assumptions embedded in their interfaces. Theoretical concepts such as motivation affordance, technology affordances, and sociomaterialism are used as frameworks to understand and analyze the results. The interface analysis provides insights into how various affordances, such as functional, cognitive, sensory, and collaborative, shape the user experience in healthcare apps. The results offer an overview and understanding of how user behaviors are influenced by the structure, design, and features of health apps through their digital interfaces, illustrating how the apps provide users with support and information.