Digital health training needs in primary care

Ana Luisa Neves

Background:

The successful integration of digital health into primary care heavily relies on general practitioner/family doctors’ (GP/FDs') proficiency and comfort with these technologies, which often bring new complexities and concerns to routine practice. Preliminary evidence suggests that lack of proper training may contribute to the challenges faced by GPs/FDs in integrating these technologies into their daily practice.

Research questions:

This work aims to comprehensively assess the digital health training needs of GPs/FDs globally (minimum target of 70 countries). Specifically, we aim to a) identify the current level of digital health literacy among GP/FDs; b) map the existing training in digital health, both in pre- and post-graduate curricula; c) identify key priorities for training in digital health, and d) develop recommendations to guide the implementation of digital health training in pre- and post-graduate curricula.

Method:

As per the overall scope of the work, a minimum target of 70 countries, covering each WONCA Region, will be considered. We will use a mixed methods approach, including an online survey to map existing digital training in digital health (>386 responses, for a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5%); and a combination of 5 focus groups (n=10 each) and an eDelphi study (n=140 experts) to identify and reach consensus on the key topics for digital training. Main aspects to be covered include preferred education methods, stakeholders to be involved, and relevant actions to be taken, to incorporate these aspects on training curricula.

Results:

Conclusions:

In collaboration with the Wonca Working Party on eHealth, Working Party in Research and SIG Policy Advocacy, this work will provide a necessary contribution to the scientific literature about the need for digital training in pre- and post-graduate curricula, and a brief to providers and policymakers who are working at the cutting edge of integrating digital health into the primary care environment.

Points for discussion:

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