Alshoumr Bader, Almulhem Jwaher A, Alkadi Khulud, Aljarallah Lujain, Aljuffali Lobna A, Aldekhyyel Raniah N
Department of Health Informatics, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia; Medical and Diagnostic Research Centre, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
Medical Informatics & e-learning Unit, Medical Education Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Int J Med Inform. 2025 Sep;201:105944. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2025.105944. Epub 2025 Apr 29.
The 2030 Health Sector Transformation Program (HSTP) in Saudi Arabia includes digital health as one of its objectives. To achieve this transformation a knowledgeable and skillful workforce is needed. No research identifies the specific health informatics competencies needed to support HSTP's objectives. Our study aims to identify and prioritize key competencies for health informatics master's graduates needed to support Saudi Arabia's digital health transformation strategies for 2030.
A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 health informatics experts in Saudi Arabia, identified through LinkedIn, with over 10 years of experience working on large-scale national projects. Interviewees were conducted in August and September of 2024. Experts ranked competencies based on their priority and alignment with HSTP's digital transformation goals. The competencies were drawn from of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) international recommendations in biomedical and health informatics (BMHI) educational framework, which served as the gold standard.
A total of 37 competencies were ranked as high priority, 38 as moderate priority, and 5 as neutral. The top high-priority competencies for health informatics master's graduates included change management, patient safety, data and information analysis, system security, business alignment, ethics, security and privacy, and leadership. The management science and social and behavioral domains were identified as the most critical for developing health informatics curricula and professional training programs. Two new competencies were identified: innovation, and emerging digital health technologies.
The findings reflect the changes that the healthcare system in the country is experiencing specifically related to data and digitalization as identified by the 2030 HSTP. There needs to be more standardized educational programs focused on the competencies needed for the workforce to contribute to the digital health transformation plans. These findings can serve as a standard guide in revising or establishing BMHI educational programs.
沙特阿拉伯的2030年卫生部门转型计划（HSTP）将数字健康作为其目标之一。为实现这一转型，需要一支知识渊博、技术娴熟的劳动力队伍。目前尚无研究确定支持HSTP目标所需的具体卫生信息学能力。我们的研究旨在确定并优先排列卫生信息学硕士毕业生支持沙特阿拉伯2030年数字健康转型战略所需的关键能力。
通过领英识别出17位沙特阿拉伯卫生信息学专家，对他们进行了一系列半结构化访谈，这些专家都有超过10年参与大型国家项目的工作经验。访谈于2024年8月和9月进行。专家们根据能力的优先级以及与HSTP数字转型目标的契合度对能力进行了排名。这些能力源自国际医学信息学协会（IMIA）在生物医学和健康信息学（BMHI）教育框架中的国际建议，该框架是黄金标准。
共有37项能力被列为高优先级，38项为中等优先级，5项为中性优先级。卫生信息学硕士毕业生的高优先级能力包括变革管理、患者安全、数据和信息分析、系统安全、业务契合、伦理、安全与隐私以及领导力。管理科学以及社会和行为领域被确定为开发卫生信息学课程和专业培训项目最为关键的领域。确定了两项新能力：创新和新兴数字健康技术。
研究结果反映了该国医疗系统正在经历的与2030年HSTP所确定的数据和数字化相关的变化。需要有更多专注于劳动力为数字健康转型计划做出贡献所需能力的标准化教育项目。这些研究结果可作为修订或制定BMHI教育项目的标准指南。
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