Department of Health Informatics, Debre Markos University, Health Science College, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
Department of Health Informatics, University of Gondar, Institute of Public Health, Gondar, Ethiopia.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2020 Nov 9;20(1):1021. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05848-5.
Healthcare providers across all clinical practice settings are progressively relying and adapting information communication technologies to perform their professional activities. In this era of technology, healthcare providers especially in lower income countries should have at least basic digital competency if a successful application of technology is to be achieved. The aim of this study was to assess digital competency of healthcare providers among seven public health centers in North-West Ethiopia.
A cross-sectional study design was applied to assess the basic digital competency of healthcare providers working in seven public health centers in North-west Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. Self-administered questionnaire adopted from the European commission's digital competency framework for assessing digital competency were used. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with basic digital competency with p-value< 0.05 as a rule out for statistical significance. The strength of association was explained in terms of coefficient estimate, adjusted odds ratio and a 95% confidence interval (CI).
From the total of 193 healthcare providers included in the study, 167 of them responded which is a response rate of 86.5%. The majority of respondents 88 (52.7%) were males and the mean age was 28.2 years with a standard deviation of 5.5 years. The result indicated that all items demonstrated an adequate level of internal consistency with Cronbach alpha > 0 .7. Healthcare providers in those public health centers reported that problem solving, safety and communication are the most common challenges encountered. The multivariable logistic regression model indicated that factors such as sex, educational status, profession type, monthly income and years of experience are statistically significant predictors.
Basic digital competency level of healthcare providers working in public health centers in this setting is relatively low. The results highlight the need to improve digital competency among healthcare providers focusing on the identified skill gaps.
所有临床实践环境中的医疗保健提供者都在逐渐依赖和适应信息通信技术来开展其专业活动。在这个技术时代，如果要成功应用技术，医疗保健提供者，尤其是低收入国家的医疗保健提供者，至少应具备基本的数字能力。本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚西北阿姆哈拉州七个公共卫生中心的医疗保健提供者的数字能力。
本研究采用横断面研究设计，评估了在埃塞俄比亚西北阿姆哈拉州七个公共卫生中心工作的医疗保健提供者的基本数字能力。采用了欧盟委员会数字能力框架中用于评估数字能力的自我管理问卷。采用多变量逻辑回归分析确定与基本数字能力相关的因素，p 值<0.05 为统计学意义排除标准。关联强度用系数估计值、调整后的优势比和 95%置信区间（CI）来解释。
在纳入研究的 193 名医疗保健提供者中，有 167 名做出了回应，回应率为 86.5%。大多数受访者 88 人（52.7%）为男性，平均年龄为 28.2 岁，标准差为 5.5 岁。结果表明，所有项目的内部一致性都很高，克朗巴赫 alpha 值>0.7。这些公共卫生中心的医疗保健提供者报告说，解决问题、安全和沟通是他们最常遇到的挑战。多变量逻辑回归模型表明，性别、教育程度、职业类型、月收入和工作年限等因素是具有统计学意义的预测因素。
在这种情况下，在公共卫生中心工作的医疗保健提供者的基本数字能力水平相对较低。研究结果强调需要提高医疗保健提供者的数字能力，重点关注已确定的技能差距。
