Bliksund Consultant Lars Knudsen, who has worked in Norway where the electronic patient record (EWA) is already a key part of pre-hospital care, believes the system can be successfully adopted by Danish regions.
"I have found that access to data in the pre-hospital sector has been very limited. When Bliksund introduced this solution, I thought, "Wow, we should have this in Denmark too,'" says Lars Knudsen about EWA, Bliksund's electronic patient record for the prehospital area.
The pre-hospital sector is responsible for healthcare outside of hospitals and has long lacked a system to document patients' medical history and the treatments provided.
Lars Knudsen is a Danish anesthesiologist and former medical director of the emergency medical helicopter in Karup, as well as Prehospitalet in the Central Denmark Region.
20 years of insight and experience
With over 20 years of experience in the pre-hospital sector in both Norway and Denmark, Knudsen now brings his expertise to Bliksund, a company specializing in digital solutions for the healthcare industry.
Lars is confident that EWA will fill the documentation gaps in pre-hospital care by recording patients' symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, providing real-time access to information and supporting follow-up care.
“It’s surprising that such a crucial part of the patient journey—what happens in the ambulance—remains undocumented in Denmark. Until now, it's been recorded on paper or stored in folders, but it has never been integrated into the regional databases. All diagnostics and treatment from the time the patient becomes ill until they arrive at the hospital have never been formally documented.”
Platform can be accessed by everyone
Lars Knudsen presents strong arguments for integrating EWA into Denmark's pre-hospital care. First, having all observations, measurements, and medical assessments recorded on a shared platform allows seamless access for everyone—from paramedics and EMTs to emergency nurses, anesthesiologists, and specialists. This improves the accuracy of diagnoses and treatments, ultimately enhancing patient safety.
Lars Knudsen spent several years in Norway’s pre-hospital service, including as medical director of the Air Ambulance at Sørlandet Hospital in Arendal. He also worked extensively in Denmark’s emergency services, where his pioneering efforts led to the establishment of a permanent medical helicopter service in 2014.
From that time, he knows that data and documentation are key.
"We developed our own database system to document patient information—who they were, the severity of their conditions, and the treatments provided. Without this documentation, we couldn’t demonstrate the impact of introducing a medical helicopter service in Denmark," says Lars Knudsen.
Bliksund EWA similarly collects and centralizes pre-hospital information using a tablet-based app in ambulances, displaying real-time data to both the control center and emergency dispatch centers while securely storing patient data on central servers. This setup enables real-time access to information and supports later follow-up.
EWA is easy to transfer to Danish conditions
With many years of experience in ambulance services in both countries, Lars Knudsen is confident that EWA can be transferred from Norway to Denmark with minimal adjustments.
"There's a bit of a language issue, but I think it's easily solved," Lars Knudsen emphasizes.
Lars Knudsen notes that Bliksund takes a highly agile approach, engaging actively with users to adapt the system to local needs. This flexibility allows for quick adjustments and gives users significant influence over the user interface.
"You can record all the data you need. And you can add new variables at any time," says Lars Knudsen.
He also points out that EWA can be linked to all existing Danish databases such as the National Patient Register, the Danish Trauma Register and the Regions' Clinical Quality Development Program.
