Change Management in Healthcare Organizations: Soft Skills Training Strategies Through Blended Learning Environments

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Organizational Change Management
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Implementing health information systems (HIS) necessitates effective change management.
• Soft skills are crucial for successful HIS implementation but challenging to teach online.
• Limited evidence exists on teaching soft skills for healthcare change management in digital environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the experience of teaching soft skills for change management to master's students in health informatics.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning environments for developing these critical skills.
• To address the gap in evidence regarding online or blended learning for soft skills in health informatics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a blended learning environment combining online and face-to-face instruction.
• Focused on developing soft skills relevant to change management within the context of HIS implementation.
• Targeted master's degree students in a health informatics program.

Main Results:

• The blended learning approach facilitated the acquisition of soft skills for change management.
• Students demonstrated improved understanding and application of soft skills pertinent to HIS.
• The experience provided valuable insights into effective pedagogical strategies for this domain.

Conclusions:

• Blended learning environments are a viable and effective method for teaching soft skills in health informatics.
• This pedagogical approach can successfully prepare future health informaticians for managing organizational change.
• Further research should explore scalability and long-term impact of such training programs.