Non-communicable diseases, digital education and considerations for the Indian context – a scoping review

Abstract

Introduction- The increasing ageing of population with growth in NCD burden in India has put an unprecedented pressure on India’s health care systems. Shortage of skilled human resources in health, particularly of specialists equipped to treat NCDs, is one of the major challenges faced in India. Keeping in view the shortage of healthcare professionals and the guidelines in NEP 2020, there is an urgent need for more health professionals who have received training in diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of NCDs. This paper conducts a scoping review of the published research examining digital education of health professionals within NCD topics. Methods- We searched four databases using a three-element search string with terms related to digital education, health professions, and terms related to NCD. Data was extracted from 29 included studies that reported on empirical research into digital educational related to non-communicable disease in health professionals of India. Data were analysed thematically. Results- The target groups were mostly in-service health professionals but there was also a considerable number of studies included pre-service students of medicine (n=6) and nursing (n=6). Among the health professionals, most were nurses (n=12), followed by medical practitioners/doctors (n=8) and other health professionals (n=8) including emergency technicians, primary care providers, medical assistants etc. While majority of the studies included were experimental or observational, randomized control trials and evaluations were also part of our study. Discussion- Digital HPE related to NCDs has proven to be beneficial for learners and at the same time offer an effective way to bypass geographical barriers. Despite these positive attributes, digital HPE faces many challenges for its successful implementation in the Indian context. Owing to the multi-lingual and diverse health professional ecosystem in India, there is a need for strong evidence and guidelines based on prior research to Indian context.