The Nordland hospital group (Nordlandssykehuset) in Northern Norway has taken deliberate steps towards closed-loop medication process. ICT advisors Ivar Svorkmo-Stemland and Jostein Kristoffer Stemland talked about their journey at the Medanets User Days in February.
Back at the start of the process, all hospitals in Northern Norway (Helse Nord) only had medication information on paper. This changed in 2021, as some of the region’s hospitals implemented an electronic chart for medication information. The problem with this system was that it didn’t have an integration with the EHR system where all other patient data was. Moreover, the medication administrations had to be done on a computer, away from the bedside, and each documentation required multiple clicks.
With their four hospitals, Nordlandssykehuset decided to go another way. From their point of view, implementing this system would have had a negative effect on the nurses’ workflow, as their nurses were used to documenting vital signs, observations, assessments and checklists on the Medanets mobile app. They wanted to use Medanets for medication administrations as well.
“How difficult could it be”?
Now, a central problem remained: they needed an integration from the Medanets app to the chosen electronic medication chart, but there was none. Known for their internal motto; ‘how difficult could it be’, Nordlandssykehuset simply decided to build one.
The solution was Robotic Process Automation, also known as Nora the robot. When the nurse logs into the Medanets app and identifies the patient by scanning their wristband, the robot gets a request to fetch the needed data from the electronic medication chart. Then, the robot sends this data to the Medanets app.
In addition to integrating systems together, the robot successfully handles various repetitive tasks, such as invoicing and sending out documents. It also saved the organisation a substantial amount of money by identifying unjustified invoices totalling 350 million NOK (over 31 million in euros / 27 million in GBP)!
From pilot to full implementation in one week
The medication project started in January 2025, with a goal of starting a pilot in June. Soon, the project team realised that a lot of small but important details of both systems to be integrated needed to be considered – there was more work to do than anticipated. The pilot was postponed, but with joint efforts of the Nordlandssykehuset and Medanets teams, it was finally started in September 2025.
Nordlandssykehuset introduced the Medanets Medication feature first to few pilot wards. Feedback from the first wards helped to enhance the solution even further. In the end, Nordlandssykehuset had a bedside mobile medication application they had envisioned: nurses could see the patients’ medication information, administer medications and start the infusion processes in the app. After a week, the solution was fully up and running in all four Nordlandssykehuset hospitals.
“It makes my work so much easier”
The solution was embraced by staff. One of their nurses said: “The medication overview in Medanets makes my work so much easier.” This was after they had been using Medanets Medication for two days. The whole northern region, Helse Nord, is now looking into implementing the same solution to the rest of their hospitals. “It looks like we’re doing something right!” the ICT advisors conclude.
Of course, the work does not stop here. The next steps on the organisation’s roadmap include closing the loop even further.