Capturing a patient’s point of view of the Norwegian health system in one picture is a difficult task. There are probably as many views of the system as there are patients and dependents. After reflecting on this assignment for a while I ended up with a picture of nature with a sign showing many trails you can choose to hike.
The reason I chose a picture in the nature is that the ability to enjoy the nature is an important value for many norwegians, me included, and I think many people long for this while being ill or in rehabilitation. I chose a picture with the trail sign as a symbol for opportunities. I believe our system gives the patients many opportunities and the empowerment to choose their treatment together with the health professionals. As a patient you can choose the treatment offered without worrying about the cost of it. In rehabilitations you will be surrounded by a interdisciplinary team of health professionals with different knowledge to help the patients to be able to live their life as good and independent as possible. The teams are put together based on what each patient need and might include doctors, nurses, physical therapists, nutritions, occupational therapist and others. I think this will make patients feel safe and able to put their energy into the rehabilitation instead of worrying about money and the system. I hope that most patients sees the many opportunities we have in our system.
In Norway the health care system is founded and organized by the government. The Ministry of Health and Care Services (shortened to HOD) has the main responsibility for the health care system in Norway. HOD are responsible for the health policy, public health, health services, municipal services for the elderly and disabled, health legislation and parts of social legislation in Norway (Government.no). Patients in Norway have several rights in the norwegian law for patients. The main purpose of the patients law is to 1) ensure the populations equal access to services of good quality by providing patients with rights to the health and care services, and 2) contribute to promote the trust relationship between patients and the health care services, promote social safety and respect the individual patients life, integrity and human dignity (translated from the norwegian patient law) (Pasient- og brukerrettighetsloven, 2018).
With a health care system regulated and founded by the government along with the patients rights written in the norwegian law, we have the security that when in need for health care services we will get the help we need so we can focus on getting well, live our lives and enjoy the nature again.
References:
Government.no (N/A,). Health and care. Obtained from https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/health-and-care/id917/
Pasient- og brukerrettighetsloven (2018). LOV-2018-06-15-38, §1-1 Formål. Obtained from https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1999-07-02-63?q=pasient
2 thoughts on “Ørnes, Linda. “A system of opportunities””
Linda
I like how your picture links with your concept of the Norwegian health system. As a reader, I gained some knowledge about how patients are treated in Norway and how your government is not negligent of its people.
It is a good assignment, but I think it can be better if you try to write in the patient’s point of view than your own and expand a bit on that. Maybe instead of saying ,”I think this will make the patient feel safe…” try to put yourself in the patient’s position and reflect based on that, “The patient feels safe because…” May you also please proof read for any grammatic errors.
Referencing : May you please include the dates when you accessed your online sources.
I hope my feedback is beneficial to you and all the best on your studies!
Hey Linda,
I really liked your description of the picture and the different opportunities that patients have in Norway. It is clearly very different in my country. I think this is a very good piece, but here are some suggestions to help possibly help improve it.
My suggestion to you is that you could try linking the paragraph about the patients law (third paragraph), in the Norwegian health care system to the picture you have chosen more, by maybe giving a few examples. Are there outdoor health opportunities for the patients and does the law of the country enforce it? If so, how? Are patients expected to participate in rehabilitation in nature? You could try to link the idea of opportunities the patients have (as explained in the intro), to how the laws of the country create them. It would help to create a better flow between the paragraphs so that the piece can be read more easily. This can be done by using a topic sentence such as “In Norway, the government is responsible for providing patients with many opportunities to take control of their own health”.
My last suggestion is that you could possibly elaborate more on how the patients view the health care system by trying to engage them more (the patients). You could do this by saying “I feel the patients view of the law would be…or they would feel…” In this way the view point of the patient is highlighted throughout the whole piece.
There are a few grammatical errors in the piece, but with proof reading this can be solved. I hope my feedback is helpful.
Chelsea