An eHealth Capabilities Framework for Graduates and Health Professionals: Mixed-Methods Study

Area of Science:

• Digital Health Education
• Health Workforce Development
• Curriculum Design

Background:

• Increasing demand for an eHealth-ready workforce pressures universities to enhance eHealth education.
• Current eHealth education often focuses on isolated components rather than a comprehensive curriculum approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an evidence-based framework for health curriculum design.
• To incorporate stakeholder perceptions of essential eHealth capabilities for health graduates.

Main Methods:

• A 3-phase, mixed-methods approach was employed.
• Included a literature review, focus groups, and a Delphi process with 39 experts.
• Achieved consensus on a framework of eHealth capability statements after four iterations.

Main Results:

• A final framework with 4 higher-level capability statements was developed.
• These cover digital health technologies/systems/policies, clinical practice, data analysis/knowledge creation, and technology implementation/codesign.
• The framework includes 40 performance cues illustrating capability demonstration.

Conclusions:

• The framework informs a cross-faculty eHealth curriculum aligned with workforce expectations.
• Highlights the need to reinforce, adapt, and introduce new eHealth capabilities in education.
• The capability framework can aid in applying eHealth by current and future healthcare professionals.