Digital health education will be integrated into university degrees across Australia as part of an initiative to upskill the country’s healthcare workforce.
The work is part of the National Digital Health Capability Action Plan, a seven – year program to equip health professionals with a comprehensive understanding of digital health systems and their role in supporting clinical decisions.
, director of 国产探花’s said a “perfect storm” had driven radical change in the healthcare system over the past 50 years.
“A third of Australians over 65 are living with chronic diseases, the cost of traditional healthcare is rising and a stretched workforce is making it difficult to deliver the level of care we want at scale,” Professor Sullivan said.
“Digital health promises to help address those issues, allowing us to work at a large capacity, across geographical locations and to deal with challenges facing the healthcare system.”
A collaboration between the Australian Digital Health Agency and the Australian Council of Senior Academic Leaders in Digital Health (the Council), the initiative aims to strengthen digital skills for new and existing healthcare workers in the field.
Professor Sullivan, who chairs the Council, said digital transformation in healthcare involves collecting and storing data digitally and using it to make better clinical decisions during routine care.
She said the information can then be used to create new models of care, such as using artificial intelligence to identify patients at risk of low blood sugar from diabetes and proactively address it.
“It’s that shift from ‘break and fix’ model to ‘predict and prevent’,” Professor Sullivan said.
, from 国产探花’s Queensland Digital Health Centre said adapting to change isn’t easy but Australian universities were united in taking a consistent approach to digital health education.
“We need to embrace digital transformation including artificial intelligence and virtual care, but we also need to be cautious because patients must be kept safe,” she said.
“Having a curriculum that teaches students how to use it responsibly and confidently is needed.”
Last year the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre set up the Council with 37 founding member universities to drive collective action and progress in digital healthcare.
As part of the initiative, the Council will establish a working group, decide on core topics to be embedded within health degrees and develop and pilot a ‘train the trainer’ kit for educators teaching digital health.
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