Finnish expertise in the usability of eHealth services is appreciated in Japan

Recently, Senior University Lecturer Sari Kujala and her team’s research work with the usability and accessibility of eHealth services in Aalto University has been recognized internationally, as Taku Iwami, Professor from Kyoto University, Japan expressed interest in visiting to learn more about their research.

Enhancing national eHealth services is currently underway in Japan. Iwami leads the research on Japanese eHealth services. In collaboration with HealthTech.Lab, they are developing an application that allows patients to contribute by adding their Personal Health Records (PHR) to a national database. Japanese researchers are particularly interested in the implementation and usability of eHealth services in Finland.

Finland has been a forerunner in developing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and offering them nationally via the national patient portal, MyKanta. Sari Kujala’s team has conducted research on the usability of national eHealth services both, locally and internationally in Nordic countries through the DigiIN and NORDeHealth projects.

”It was pleasant to host visitors from Japan and learn about their health care solutions. It is also inspiring that people in Japan are interested in Finland's experiences and our research findings related to the usability of eHealth services", Kujala explains. “Our guests view Finland as a pioneer in the widespread adoption of eHealth services and the use of patient portals”, adds Johanna Viitanen, Assistant Professor from Aalto University.

All participants were open to the potential future international collaboration. “The visit provided an excellent opportunity to exchange perspectives on eHealth services in Finland and Japan and to create the groundwork for future research collaboration. Particularly interesting were the discussions about the accessibility and usability of eHealth services”, says Juho-Pekka Mäkipää, University Lecturer from University of Vaasa.

”In addition, our guests expressed interest in the usability and user experience, recognizing their importance in service design, even though they had limited previous understanding on these topics. There seems to be a lot of opportunities for cooperation specifically focus on and study the end-user perspective”, elaborates Viitanen. “Taku Iwami was interested in collaboration with us e.g. in usability testing of their prototype and usability education in general”, continues Iiris Hörhammer, Research Fellow from Aalto University. “Our research groups share a clear interest in developing eHealth services that are accessible and usable for as many people as possible”, adds Kujala.