Towards a nordic digital education in hospital at home: a group-interview study

Hospital at Home (HaH) is an increasingly common healthcare model nationally and internationally, and consequently there is a need for digital health education in the area, including in the Nordic countries. Even in similar contexts, cross-national collaboration remains complex because cultural variations shape communication, decision-making and perceptions of healthcare priorities. However, knowledge of how this unfolds in cross-national projects remains limited. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore visions, expectations and challenges among members of a consortium involved in the development of a Nordic digital health education in Hospital at Home, HaH.

A qualitative design with group interviews was applied, with data collected at three different occasions during December 2023 to September 2024. A total of 18 participants from the NorDigHE project consortium were included. Data was analyzed using the RITA process.

The results contain one theme From vision to sustainable reality - education for the future, and comprises four subthemes: Managing cross-national differences in healthcare and healthcare education; Managing diverse professional and cultural perspectives; Creating an attractive learning context, and; Creating a valid and sustainable content. The results reflect upon the importance of being responsive to cross-national differences, language barriers regarding diverse perspectives, practical strategies for creating an education comprising different learning activities and on the challenge of developing an education for healthcare professionals with the possibility to evolve with technology.

Cross-national collaboration, in our study developing a cross-national digital health education on HaH, seems to create both challenges and rewarding experiences among the consortium members. It is apparent that it is important to understand the aspects of diversity that can arise within a cross-national collaboration, and to create an open and responsive environment between the members to maintain a solid foundation for an effective process towards the shared goal despite differences in healthcare systems and in professional and cultural perspectives. Our study has the potential to serve as a guidance on how to prepare for future partnerships to avoid loss of efficiency and effectiveness in cross-national consortia. The findings can also be used to improve the outcomes of cross-national projects, by approaching the collaboration with cultural intelligence.