Healthcare professionals' perceptions of digital health competence: A qualitative descriptive study

Abstract

Aims and objectives:This study aims to provide insight into healthcare professionals' lived experiences of digital health competence with the objective of improving the knowledge of how digital health competence is perceived by healthcare professionals.Background: Healthcare professionals need to adjust to the digital era to provide quality and ethical care. Previous research has rarely adopted a healthcare professional's standpoint to describe their perceptions of digital health competence, even though their perspective in how new care practices are designed and implemented is vital.Design: A qualitative descriptive study.Methods: Healthcare professionals (nurses and allied health professionals) from versatile healthcare settings were recruited for individual semi-structured interviews in Sweden (n = 5) and Finland (n = 15) (spring 2019-summer 2020). Purposive and convenience sampling was used. Participants' backgrounds were in the public and private sectors. The interviews were transcribed for inductive content analysis. The SRQR guideline guided the study process.Results: Healthcare professionals' perceptions of digital health competence are connected to competence to provide patient-centric care through digital channels, using technology and digital health systems, interacting with the patient through digital means, evaluating what digital health is and combining digital and traditional methods.Professionals' perceptions of their own digital health competence were divided, with the participants either reporting sufficient competence or perceiving a lack of skills in some specific areas.Conclusions: Healthcare professionals' perceptions of digital health competence focus on the ability to provide patient-centric care by evaluating the need and possibilities for using digital health services jointly with more traditional methods. This study provides a sound basis for digital health research, but future studies should focus on elucidating factors which affect digital health competence and competence development.

Older adults can use technology: why healthcare professionals must overcome ageism in digital health

“…Digital health has provided a safe alternative to in-person visits for vulnerable and home-bound patients, reduced travel burden, and facilitated communication with providers [ 9–11 ]. For these reasons, older adults are increasingly viewing digital health as essential to their lives [ 12 , 13 ]; however, many healthcare professionals remain reluctant [ 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Common ageist beliefs (e.g., “ you can’t teach an old dog new tricks ”) in healthcare can lead to harmful generalizations that all older adults are unwilling or unable to use technology [ 17 , 18 ]. In a recent qualitative interview study, healthcare professionals equated older age with poor technological skills and endorsed a lack of competence of digital health competence [ 14 ]. As a result, clinicians may be unprepared to implement digital health into practice, recommend digital health treatments to older patients, and tailor technologies to their specific needs.…”

Empowerment for the Digital Transformation: Results of a Structured Blended-Learning On-the-Job Training for Practicing Physicians in Germany

“…Thus, by means of the presented training, a substantial and meaningful gain of knowledge about digital transformation topics was achieved. For the present study, we deliberately focused on the cognitive part of the Miller pyramid (declarative knowledge “knows” [ 59 ]), as practicing physicians currently mostly have a small knowledge base regarding the aspects of the digital transformation [ 20 , 21 , 60 , 61 ]. Whether the reported knowledge gain is enough to act confidently and critically in the digitalized health care environment [ 8 ] will require further studies.…”

“…For a start, we did not include skills in the study. It was known from the literature [ 20 , 21 , 60 , 61 ] as well as from the needs assessment in the context of the six-step approach by Kern [ 15 , 50 ] that a majority of physicians currently still have a low level of digital competence. That is why current continuing trainings need to focus on establishing a strong competence foundation, which can be successively built upon with higher-order steps of the Miller pyramid [ 59 ].…”

Digitalization in Medicine: Are German Medical Students Well Prepared for the Future?

“…Although most of today’s physicians and especially the next generation are much more familiar with computer-based technology than their predecessor generations [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], the implementation of digital medicine and its digital teaching and learning formats in everyday life requires appropriate training and continuing education programs for healthcare professionals [ 21 , 22 ]. At the same time, it must not be disregarded that digital teaching or digital learning is an adequate means of increasing knowledge for everyone [ 18 ].…”