New doctorate: Emil K. Thomassen

Digital home monitoring for axial spondyloarthritis – a possible alternative? This is what doctoral fellow at Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Emil Eirik Kvernberg Thomassen, has been researching for the past three years. Now we can congratulate him on his PhD degree.

In the photo: Here is the newly graduated doctor, Emil Eirik Kvernberg Thomassen in the middle, together with his supervisors, Anne Therese Tveter, main supervisor Nina Østerås, Inger Jorid Berg and Eirik Klami Kristianslund.

Thomassen  has investigated how patients and healthcare professionals relate to digital home monitoring related to axial spondyloarthritis. The thesis is titled Remote care and monitoring in rheumatology care: Willingness, facilitators and barriers, adherence and feasibility to the use of digital health technology.

ReMonit, an important project for the future of healthcare

The results provide important input into the future organization of health services.

– The hope is that digital home monitoring can give patients and healthcare professionals more flexibility, says Thomassen.

He explains that patients who do not need to attend the hospital regularly can be followed up digitally. This can free up time and resources for healthcare professionals to follow patients with more serious illnesses more closely.

With this research, we now have a greater knowledge base for implementing digital solutions in healthcare.

Want digital follow-up

“We found that both patients and healthcare professionals were positive about digital home follow-up,” says Thomassen.

Healthcare professionals believed that the patients’ ability to save time and travel expenses was important for patients wanting to use digital home follow-up. Healthcare professionals experienced the absence of a physical examination as the biggest barrier to this type of follow-up.

Digital home monitoring works well

The doctoral work focused particularly on whether digital follow-up can be implemented in practice, and how the tools are used by patients.

“Most patients followed up well. They reported their own disease activity either monthly or quarterly,” says Thomassen.

Exercise as medicine

Within rheumatology, repeated studies show that exercise is good medicine. Therefore, it was of interest to also measure physical activity in the study patients.

“It turned out that the activity trackers we used to measure physical activity had low uptake over time. Many people simply stopped using them,” he says.

He points out that there could be various reasons for this. One of them could be that the patients themselves had to submit the physical activity measurements.

Nevertheless, Thomassen's conclusion is clear:

Digital home monitoring was well received by patients with low disease activity.

“Our findings can help shape future solutions where this type of follow-up becomes more accessible and widespread,” he says.

A comprehensive study

To conduct the study of healthcare professionals' attitudes towards digital follow-up, 130 healthcare professionals from rheumatology departments around Norway responded to a questionnaire.  

To investigate patients' attitudes and compliance with digital follow-up, data from a larger research project, the ReMonit study, was used.

The study involved 243 patients with axial spondyloarthritis. They were recruited at the rheumatology outpatient clinic at Diakonhjemmet Hospital. The study lasted for 18 months.

They were randomly divided into three groups: one received digital home monitoring, one received regular check-ups with hospital visits, and one received follow-up when they requested it.

All had low disease activity and were treated with stable doses of various drugs within the DMARDs group. These drugs are designed to reduce inflammation in joints and tissues and slow down the disease.

Kvernberg Thomassen would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who contributed to the recruitment and everyone who participated in the study.

Thanks to the supervisors

– I would also like to sincerely thank my supervisors, who have stood by the research and me, says Kvernberg Thomassen.

Nina Østerås has been the main supervisor, and Anne Therese Tveter, Inger Jorid Berg and Eirik Klami Kristianslund have been co-supervisors. All are employed at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.

– It's a really great group that I really look up to, he says enthusiastically.

The Committee

The defense took place at Diakonhjemmet Hospital. The defense leader was Reidun Birgitta Jahnsen from the University of Oslo. The first opponent was Norelee Kennedy from the University of Limerick. The second opponent was Johannes Knitza from Phillips University of Marburg. Maren Falch Lindberg was the committee chair

PhD at Diakonhjemmet Hospital

Thomassen received his PhD from Diakonhjemmet Hospital. He was professionally affiliated with the National Competence Service for Rheumatological Rehabilitation (NKRR), which later became part of the Unit for Health Services Research and Innovation (EHI).

All research and data collection included in the doctoral degree has been anchored at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.

The doctoral project has been funded by South-Eastern Health, with a one-month extension from Diakonhjemmet Hospital.

Emil Eirik Kvernberg Thomassen began as a fellow in August 2021. He submitted his thesis in December 2024.

He has also taken courses and completed his research training at the University of Oslo. The degree is formally awarded by the University of Oslo.

Trial lecture

The doctoral examination began with the trial lecture, where Thomassen gave a well-formulated presentation to an interested audience. The title was Evidence-based innovations: Digitally supported patient pathways for osteoarthritis.

Want to research further

Since August 2024, Kvernberg Thomassen has worked in a 20 percent position as a physiotherapist at the Norwegian Rheumatological Rehabilitation (NBRR). He hopes to continue in this position.

– I also really want to do further research. But it has been difficult to find time to write new applications after I submitted my thesis. But I have a project I hope to get started on, he says.

Read more:

Here you will find links to more information:
https://www.med.uio.no/.../trial.../2025/thomassen-emil.html

https://www.med.uio.no/.../dispu.../2025/thomassen-emil.html