Linn Hege Olstad
PhD fellow at the University of South-Eastern Norway - Hallingdal
I am a PhD candidate in Health and Social Sciences at the University of South-Eastern Norway, affiliated with the Center for Health and Technology, and employed in Hallinghelse. I hold a professional background as a registered nurse, a Master’s degree in Clinical Nursing from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), completed in 2019, as well as several postgraduate specializations.
Prior to starting my PhD, I worked with e-health and digital health services at Hallinghelse, an intermunicipal healthcare collaboration in the region of Hallingdal. This experience fostered a strong commitment to addressing the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small municipalities, which often differ significantly from those of larger, urban areas.
Tell us about your project!
My PhD project focuses on trust and digital health competence as key enablers for the sustainable digitalization of health and care services in small municipalities. The project explores how trust, competence, and organizational context influence the implementation and use of e-health solutions and welfare technology in municipal healthcare services, with a particular emphasis on the perspectives of employees, leaders, and allocation authorities.
The PhD is part of a project that received funding from the Norwegian Research Council (NFR) (ref. 355344) in December 2024 under the call "Research and Innovation to Strengthen Sustainability in Municipal Health and Care Services." The project is initiated by twelve small municipalities in two different rural regions in southern Norway (Flå, Nesbyen, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål, and Hol) and Vest-Telemark (Fyresdal, Kviteseid, Nissedal, Seljord, Tokke, and Vinje), based on their need to scale welfare technology to more users, implement remote patient monitoring service (RPM), and succeed with parallel e-health initiatives such as welfare technology hubs, core medical records, and new electronic patient record system.
“My PhD project focuses on trust and digital health competence as key enablers for the sustainable digitalization of health and care services in small municipalities”
— Linn Hege Olstad on her PhD project “Trust and Competence for Sustainable Digitalization of Health and Care Services in Small Municipalities”