Digitalization affects all professional sectors and health is no exception. Â Computerized medical records, teleconsultation, apps downloaded onto smartphones and virtual reality for pain management are a few examples of technologies that are gradually impacting healthcare workers working environment.
Today in North-West Europe, there are only a very limited number of academic programs providing training for caregivers to acquire the fundamental knowledge required to use the tools effectively.
For eHealth implementation to be successful, several factors are essential :
First, the ultimate goal of innovation is to provide quality care for the patient. The patient must always come first and be a partner.
Second, this digital technology must be able to adapt to the care processes and must fit into healthcare professionals’ daily life.
Finally, the key element is the human factor. Caregivers need to understand the meaning of technology to know its benefits while being aware of its limitations.
This is why, at the Haute Ecole de la Province de Namur and within the framework of the IT4Anxiety project, our first digital health awareness program will be included in the continuous learning modules that will be offered at the beginning of 2022.
Students, through the development of the digital health literacy, will discover the potential of these technologies. The goal is for caregivers to take a role in the selection, deployment and implementation of digital health. This training, a balance between face-to-face and e-learning, will allow learners to share e-health initiatives, to test innovative tools, and to think about these innovations and their proper use.
The main thread of the course will be the care partnership with the patient to best integrate new technologies.
The IT4Anxiety project is the trigger for the implementation of this course, but this training will not stop at the end of the project. We will build on the continuous evaluation of this new curriculum in order to adapt it and integrate it in a sustainable way into the Mental Health specialization but also to integrate a specific module into the initial training of all nurses at the University of Applied Sciences.
This project allows for a step forward in the modernization of nursing education.
