It’s important, but not important enough: eHealth as a curriculum priority in medical education in Australia

Abstract

Information and communications technology has become central to the way in which health services are provided. Technology-enabled services in healthcare are often described as eHealth, or more recently, digital health. Practitioners may require new knowledge, skills and competencies to make best use of eHealth, and while universities may be a logical place to provide such education and training, a study in 2012 found that the workforce was not being adequately educated to achieve competence to work with eHealth. We revisited eHealth education and training in Australian universities with a focus on medical schools; we aimed to explore the progress of eHealth in the Australian medical curriculum. We conducted a national interview study and interpretative phenomenological analysis with participants from all 19 medical schools in Australia; two themes emerged: (i) consensus on the importance of eHealth to current and future clinical practice; (ii) there are other priorities, and no strong drivers for change. Systemic problems inhibit the inclusion of eHealth in medical education: the curriculum is described as ‘crowded’ and with competing demands, and because accrediting bodies do not expect eHealth competence in medical graduates, there is no external pressure for its inclusion. Unless and until accrediting bodies recognise and expect competence in eHealth, it is unlikely that it will enter the curriculum; consequently the future workforce will remain unprepared.