A workshop on eHAction Task 6.3: ‘e-skills for health professionals’ was held on 15th and 16th January in Dublin, Ireland. Co-hosted by the task leaders, the Irish Computer Society (ICS) and the Irish Ministry of Health at the ICS headquarters, the workshop brought task contributors together to discuss the progress of the task, review results and agree on lesson learned.
This workshop marked the culmination of the task’s work, which included practical activities such as the piloting of an online competence assessment process using the eHealth Competence Model (a competence framework developed during the JAseHN joint action) as well as expert/stakeholder interviews.
During the workshop, the results of the work carried out was analysed, reflected on and key messages derived which will be included in a final report to be presented for information to the next eHealth Network meeting.
A convivial atmosphere with genuine contributions from all attendees made for an engaging workshop. Two guest presenters from the Irish Ministry of Health inspired further conversation over the two days, touching issues such as:
• The mixed attitudes of health professionals towards digitalisation;
• The importance of showing health professionals the benefits of eHealth to them in their day-to-day roles and ultimately to their patients;
• The role of competence frameworks: in describing a minimum level of e-skills across the EU for all health professionals or in describing role-specific competence requirements;
• The requirement for training and upskilling opportunities that are matched to needs. From embedding e-skills into medical curricula to induction programmes for new entrants to the workforce and then ongoing CPD for practising health professionals: can competence frameworks play a role at every stage?
The workshop concluded with clear agreement on the structure and content for the final report, which attendees saw as a first step in exploring this increasingly important topic.