Digitalized health workforce education: an elicitation of research gaps and selection of case studies

Overview

The third goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda aims to ensure that everyone has access to good health and well-being by 2030. To achieve this, countries must establish responsive and people-centred health systems, as well as an efficient, supported and well-motivated health workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has further demonstrated the significance of the health workforce and the importance of investing in solutions that address the challenges it faces. To address these challenges adequately, policy- and decision-makers require evidence-based guidance.

Recently, the availability of technological learning tools has experienced exponential growth, significantly altering the traditional way health workers have been educated and how they deliver health services. The benefits and limitations of using digital tools and platforms to supplement traditional methods of educating health workers have been highlighted in several studies to date. Findings show that the effectiveness (i.e. what does or does not work) of using digital technology to educate and train health workers varies according to training objectives, digital modality, context, teaching and assessment methods, study population and specialty of practice.

This report presents a broad summary of the research gaps around the use of digital technology for the education and training of health workers. Additionally, it applies a conceptual framework developed from a synthesis of existing frameworks for digital health in general, as well as digitalized health workforce education (DHWE). The report includes a non-exhaustive, non-prioritized list of 63 research questions, which are classified across six domains of the applied conceptual framework to guide future research in advancing digital health worker education. Finally, evidence gaps from the literature are identified to inform future research activities.