Network collaboration within safety telephone services for ageing people in Finland
H. Melkas
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AbstractObjective: This article gives an overview of information flows, networking, and collaboration within organisational networks providing safety telephone services to ageing people. As a corollary, the article produces practical recommendations. The article is based on a comprehensive investigation of operations of several different kinds of safety telephone service networks. Methods: The analysis was done on the basis of qualitative interview data. Interviews were carried out among service providers around the country in Finland and in one location in Sweden for comparison. The interviewees were representative of the different sectors, professions, organisations, and types of services within the branch. The investigation was directed towards all information and networking processes that are relevant for safety telephone service operations. Results: Several types of information are transferred within the service networks: customer -, alarm -, technical -, and network information. Bottlenecks of information flows are related, inter alia, to differences in local service structures and in service provision depending on time of the day, collaboration between the public and private sector service providers, and information quality. Network participants have undefined rights and responsibilities as well as unclearness about their role in the whole of safety telephone services. Initiation into network operations and continuous communication among network participants is often lacking. Building trust is essential in virtual networks of this kind, and it starts from how collaboration is defined, initiated, and structured. Conclusions: Special attention needs to be paid to information flows and network collaboration within the multilayered context of safety telephone services. There is a need for improved network consciousness among service providers. Only after the problems in information transfer and networking have been solved, new service development becomes feasible.Keywords: safety telephone services; network collaboration; information flows
H. Melkas (2003). Network collaboration within safety telephone services for ageing people in Finland. Gerontechnology, 2(4), 306-323
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2003.02.04.003.00