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2024 (English)In: Digital Health and Wireless Solutions: First Nordic Conference, NCDHWS 2024, Proceedings, Part I / [ed] Mariella Särestöniemi; Jarmo Reponen; Pantea Keikhosrokiani; Daljeet Singh; Erkki Harjula; Aleksei Tiulpin; Miia Jansson; Minna Isomursu; Mark van Gils; Simo Saarakkala, Cham: Springer Nature, 2024, Vol. 2083, p. 398-400Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Introduction: The rapid development of digital technologies in healthcare has been recognised to require new competencies from the healthcare professionals. Global and regional digitalisation strategies have pursued to create digital health networks and structures that promote the utilisation of various digital technologies that would allow the ethical, safe, reliable, sustainable and equitable healthcare delivery. Previous research has explored healthcare professionals’ digital health competencies for example by conducting profile analysis in a national level, yet an international outlook and assessment of the current situation on healthcare professionals’ digital competencies is still lacking. The purpose of the study is to describe the perceptions and factors that affect healthcare professionals’ digital competence internationally. The aim of the study is to recognise the issues that are associated with healthcare professionals’ digital competence to increase the adoption of digital health tools and services.Materials and Methods: The study entails the linguistic and cultural validation of two instruments and a crosssectional study which investigates healthcare professionals’ digital competence internationally. Data collection takes place in up to 21 countries from healthcare professionals (min n = 300/country), including primary and specialised healthcare organisations. The instruments used in data collection include Digital Health Competence (DigiHealthCom) instrument which entails 5 factors and 42 items to measure the professional’s perceived digital competence and Aspect Associated with Digital Health Competence (DigiComInf) instrument which entails 3 factors and 15 items to measure the perceived factors that are associated with digital competence. The factors relating to healthcare professionals’ digital competence will be explored by conducting a binary regression analysis. The attributes contributing to digital competence will be identified by conducting a K-mean cluster algorithm when identifying different competence profiles of healthcare professionals. The ethical/research permissions have been requested from each participating organisation undertaking the study according to each country's standard practices. The research follows the ethical principles as stated in Declaration of Helsinki. The societal benefit of conducting the study was acknowledged by each participating country to validate the ethical treatment of the research participants. Results: The expected findings suggest that majority of healthcare professionals evaluate their digital competence at a good level but country and digital competence area level differences persist. A variety of factors relating to the professional’s professional and personal background and organisational and educational aspects support or inhibit digital competence and digital competence development. Yet, the exact results are presented in the conference in May 2024 after data collection and analysis have been completed. Discussion: The results from this study and the validated instruments to measure digital competence and factors associated with it can be further employed in evaluating and developing healthcare professionals’ digital competence in different healthcare contexts in a global scale. Individual and systematic digital competence evaluation and development does not only improve professionals’ readiness to adopt and use the necessary digital technologies in their work but also supports individuals and organisations’ transformation (change readiness, work engagement and well-being) in the digital shift and ensures high quality patient care. © The Author(s) 2024
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cham: Springer Nature, 2024
Series
Communications in Computer and Information Science, ISSN 1865-0929, E-ISSN 1865-0937 ; 2083
Keywords
Competence, Digital health, Healthcare professional, International
National Category
Nursing
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-54599 (URN)001265173200028 ()978-3-031-59090-0 (ISBN)9783031590917 (ISBN)
Conference
1st Nordic Conference on Digital Health and Wireless Solutions (NCDHWS), Oulu, Finland, May 7-8, 2024
2024-09-122024-09-122024-09-12Bibliographically approved