Digital health: a neglected part of health curricula?

Mrudula Utukuri; Felecia D'souza; Alexander Deighton; Elizabeth Pv Le; Benedict Osei-Boadu; Nishita Gadi; Ariana Axiaq; Yuri Ym Aung; Bridget Agboola; Chandini P Chand; Connor Dibblin; Chandni R Patel; Mohsin Abedi; Johnathan Hirniak; Ngan H Ta; James Hf Rudd; Rajiv Sethi

doi:10.7861/fhj.2021-0102

Digital health: a neglected part of health curricula?

Future Healthc J. 2022 Mar;9(1):18-20. doi: 10.7861/fhj.2021-0102.

Authors

Mrudula Utukuri¹, Felecia D'souza², Alexander Deighton², Elizabeth Pv Le³, Benedict Osei-Boadu⁴, Nishita Gadi⁴, Ariana Axiaq⁵, Yuri Ym Aung⁶, Bridget Agboola⁷, Chandini P Chand⁸, Connor Dibblin⁹, Chandni R Patel¹⁰, Mohsin Abedi¹¹, Johnathan Hirniak¹¹, Ngan H Ta¹², James Hf Rudd¹³, Rajiv Sethi¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
² Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK.
³ University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK.
⁴ Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK.
⁵ Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
⁶ Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK.
⁷ Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh, UK.
⁸ Hull York Medical School, Hull, UK.
⁹ King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.
¹¹ Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation trust, Basildon, UK.
¹² East Anglian Foundation School, Norwich, UK.
¹³ Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁴ Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.

Abstract

With growing government investment and a thriving consumer market, digital technologies are rapidly transforming our means of healthcare delivery. These innovations offer increased diagnostic accuracy, greater accessibility and reduced costs compared with conventional equivalents. Despite these benefits, implementing digital health poses challenges. Recent surveys of healthcare professionals (HCPs) have revealed marked inequities in digital literacy across the healthcare service, hampering the use of these new technologies in clinical practice. Furthermore, a lack of appropriate training in the associated ethical considerations risks HCPs running into difficulty when it comes to patient rights. In light of this, and with a clear need for dedicated digital health education, we argue that our focus should turn to the foundation setting of any healthcare profession: the undergraduate curriculum.

Keywords: digital health; education; undergraduate.