The Snow Agent System: A Peer-to-Peer System for Disease Surveillance and Diagnostic Assistance

In the Northern part of Norway, all general practitioners (GPs) and hospitals use electronic health record systems. They are all connected via an independent secure IP-network called the Norwegian Health Network which enables electronic communication between all institutions involved in disease prevention and healthcare.

Objective

The Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine plans to establish a peer-to-peer based surveillance  network between all GPs, laboratories, accident and emergency units, and other relevant health providers and authorities in Northern Norway. This paper briefly describes the architecture and components of the system and the motivation for using this approach.