Kujala Sari, Rajalahti Elina, Heponiemi Tarja, Hilama Pirjo
Aalto University, Department of Computer Science, Finland.
Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland.
Stud Health Technol Inform. 2018;247:181-185.
An increasing number of new eHealth services that support patients' self-management has changed health professionals' work and has created a need for a new eHealth competence. In this study, we evaluated the health professionals' eHealth competences and training needs in a public health organization in Finland. The target organization's goal was to increase the number of eHealth services provided to patients, and health professionals and their competences were seen as critical for the adoption of services. Data was collected through an online survey of 701 health professionals working in the target organization. Professionals perceived their basic computer skills as good and they were mostly willing to use eHealth services in patient work. However, health professionals need guidance, especially in their patient work in the new eHealth-enabled environment. They were less confident about their competence to motivate and advise patients to use eHealth services and how to communicate with patients using eHealth solutions. The results also imply that eHealth competence is not merely about an individual's skills but that organizations need to develop new working processes, work practices and distribution of work. We suggest that the training and support needs identified be considered in curricula and lifelong learning.
越来越多支持患者自我管理的新型电子健康服务改变了卫生专业人员的工作，并催生了对新型电子健康能力的需求。在本研究中，我们评估了芬兰一家公共卫生组织中卫生专业人员的电子健康能力及培训需求。目标组织的目标是增加向患者提供的电子健康服务数量，而卫生专业人员及其能力被视为采用这些服务的关键。通过对在目标组织工作的701名卫生专业人员进行在线调查收集数据。专业人员认为自己的基本计算机技能良好，并且大多愿意在患者工作中使用电子健康服务。然而，卫生专业人员需要指导，尤其是在新的电子健康环境下开展患者工作时。他们对自己激励和建议患者使用电子健康服务的能力以及如何使用电子健康解决方案与患者沟通的能力信心不足。结果还表明，电子健康能力不仅仅关乎个人技能，组织还需要开发新的工作流程、工作实践和工作分配方式。我们建议在课程设置和终身学习中考虑所确定的培训和支持需求。
