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. 2023 Mar 17;10(1):2190210.
doi: 10.1080/20018525.2023.2190210. eCollection 2023.

Virtual communication is commonly used in Finnish interstitial lung disease multidisciplinary meetings

Johanna Salonen  1   2 , Hanna Nurmi  3   4 , Ulla Hodgson  5   6 , Hannele Hasala  7 , Maritta Kilpeläinen  8   9 , Maria Hollmen  5 , Minna Purokivi  3 , Riitta Kaarteenaho  1   2
Affiliations

Virtual communication is commonly used in Finnish interstitial lung disease multidisciplinary meetings

Johanna Salonen et al. Eur Clin Respir J. .

Abstract

Multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) is a core element in the diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILD). The aim of the study was to investigate the implementation and key elements related to ILD MDMs in Finnish specialized care, which is characterized by long travel distances and a large number of small centers treating patients suffering from ILDs. An electronic questionnaire was sent to ILD experts working at five academic centers of Finland regarding the implementation of ILD MDMs with the focus on utilization of virtual communication. Responses were received from all academic centers of Finland (n = 5) whose catchment areas cover all of Finland. ILD MDMs were organized in each center approximately every two weeks and the core participants included a radiologist, respiratory physicians, junior staff, pathologist and a rheumatologist. All non-academic centers could refer their patients to be evaluated in ILD MDM of an academic center. Virtual communication was utilized by all academic centers in the implementation of ILD MDMs, being most common among small centers located in Eastern and Northern Finland. Virtual access to ILD MDM of an academic center was available in most parts of Finland, enabling small centers to benefit from the ILD expertise of academic centers.

Keywords: Interstitial lung disease; diagnosis; eHealth technologies; multidisciplinary; pulmonary fibrosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

JS reports congress/travel costs from Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis Finland Oy, and lecturer’s fees from Chiesi, all outside the submitted work. HN reports grants for scientific work from the Foundation of the Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Association and the North Savo Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, lecturers´ fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche and congress/travel support from Boehringer-Ingelheim, Sanofi-Genzyme, Chiesi and Duodecim, all outside the submitted work. UH reports consulting and lecture fees from Johnson and Johnson and Boehringer Ingelheim, and congress travel costs from Chiesi and Roche. HH reports lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim and Chiesi, outside the submitted work. MK has nothing to disclose. MH reports lecture fees and payments for research purposes from Boehringer Ingelheim. MP reports personal lecture fee, congress travel costs and advisory board membership at Boehringer Ingelheim, lecture fee from Roche, congress travel cost from Orion Pharma, outside the submitted work. RK reports consulting and lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche and MSD, and virtual congress costs from Roche and Novartis.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The five Finnish university hospitals and the respiratory units of their catchment areas that have participated virtually in interstitial lung disease multidisciplinary meetings (ILD MDM). Oulu University Hospital District (pink): Oulu University Hospital, Oulaskangas, Länsi-Pohja, Kuusamo, Lapland, Kainuu, and Central Ostrobothnia. Kuopio University Hospital District (brown): Kuopio University Hospital, North Karelia, Central Finland, South Savo, and East Savo. Tampere University Hospital District (orange): Tampere University Hospital and South Ostrobothnia. Turku University Hospital District (green): Turku University Hospital and Satakunta. Helsinki University Hospital District (yellow): Meilahti, Jorvi and Peijas.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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