Continuing Education in Digital Skills for Healthcare Professionals - Mapping of the Current Situation in EU Member States

Anu-Marja Kaihlanen; Lotta Virtanen; Emma Kainiemi; Virpi Sulosaari; Tarja Heponiemi

doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8309

Continuing Education in Digital Skills for Healthcare Professionals - Mapping of the Current Situation in EU Member States

Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024:13:8309. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.8309. Epub 2024 Jun 24.

Authors

Anu-Marja Kaihlanen¹, Lotta Virtanen¹, Emma Kainiemi¹, Virpi Sulosaari², Tarja Heponiemi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
² Faculty of Health and Well-being, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Master School, Turku, Finland.

Abstract

The rapid advancement of technology in healthcare is creating new competency requirements for professionals, such as skills for data management and the adoption of new technologies, understanding the effect of digitalisation on clinical processes, and evaluating clinical safety and ethics within the context of digitalisation. These requirements call for improved educational curricula and ongoing continuing education in digital skills. This study, as part of the Digital Skills Training for Health Care Professionals in Oncology (DigiCanTrain) project, aims to map and describe the existing continuing education in digital skills for healthcare professionals (HCPs) in European Union (EU) Member States. Using a mapping study methodology, data was collected from experts in 25 EU countries through surveys and from online sources. Qualitative content analysis was used for categorising the data. The results show variations between countries in policy strategies, training organisation, and funding mechanisms. Educational institutions, employers, third parties, and national/regional authorities were found to be the main organisers of the digital skills training. Comprehensive accreditation systems seemed to be scarce, and practices also varied between countries. The study highlights the importance of adopting a systematic approach to enhancing continuous professional development in digital skills, which would ensure that professionals have equitable access to education, resulting in consistent, quality patient care across countries and regions. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, educators, healthcare institutions, and professionals.

Keywords: Continuing Education; Digital Competence; European Union; Healthcare Professionals; Training.

© 2024 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

MeSH terms

Curriculum
Digital Technology
Education, Continuing
European Union*
Health Personnel* / education
Humans

Grants and funding

The work was supported by funding from the EU, EU4Health Programme 2021–2027 as part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan [grant number: 101101253]. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the EU or the HaDEA. Neither the EU nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Additionally, the work was supported by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland [grant number 352501]. The funding sources were not involved in the study design, analysis, interpretation of findings, writing of the article, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.