Copyright © 2013 by the paper's authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes. In: H. Gilstad, L. Melby, M. G. Jaatun (eds.): Proceedings of the European Workshop on Practical Aspects of Health Informatics (PAHI 2013), Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 11-MAR-2013, published at http://ceur-ws.org Improving the Odds for eHealth - Continuing Education as a Socio-Technical Approach Kirsti E. Berntsen The Norwegian Research Centre for Electronic Patient Records (NSEP), Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway Kirsti.berntsen@ntnu.no Abstract. This presentation portrayed eHealth in Norway as an issue in much and increasing demand but with varied outcomes so far. Given the urgency, the desired scope and reach of systems we deduce that continuing education in health informatics is needed within the sector, both for healthcare workers and those working with health ICT. This would contribute in a socio-technical fashion to harness relevant experiences through reflection and learning. With implicated actors participating, gaining and disseminating insights from practice and its research, the odds for strategic informed innovation and eHealth use would improve. 1 Introduction While information and communication technology figures prominently in both the healthcare sector and our private arenas, reports of its utility in actual use for health care provision vary from the glorified to the horrified. The Norwegian Government’s recent eHealth White Paper [2] states that expectations are high and opportunities for development many, if efforts are strategically and correctly focused. 1.1 The Status of eHealth in Norway Reports of the utility previous investments in IT for health care provision vary greatly. In Norwegian media the past year, optimistic stories of newly acquired state of the art mingle with more shaming tales of system updates and reports being sent on minidisc by postal mail, patient data in the municipalities sent on by newly acquired fax machines [1] and examples of patients dying because their referrals for urgent treatment went missing somewhere in paper-cyber space. The eHealth White Paper [2] states that expectations are high and opportunities for development many, if efforts are strategically and correctly focused. Stronger national control with coordinated action plans will now be established in order to address secure overall communication and data access for health care provision. Key initiatives will be aimed at development, research and innovation for the sector’s benefit. The backdrop to this is a scenario of an aging population over the next decades, all over Europe, in