Professional Education for Digital Health

The term digital health is rooted in eHealth, which is defined as “the use of information and communications technology in support of health and health-related fields”. Mobile health (mHealth) is a subset of eHealth and is defined as “the use of mobile wireless technologies for public health”.

The newly proposed Global Strategy for Digital Health from the WHO is trying to define Digital Health as “the field of knowledge and practice associated with any aspect of adopting digital technologies to improve health, from inception to operation.”

Digital health interventions are applied within a country context and a health system, and their implementation is made possible by a number of factors. These include:

     (i)            the health domain area and associated content;

   (ii)            the digital intervention itself (i.e. the functionality provided);

 (iii)            the hardware, software and communication channels for delivering the digital health intervention; and, mediated within

 (iv)            a foundational layer of the ICT and enabling environment, characterized by the country infrastructure, leadership and governance, strategy and investment, legislation and policy compliance, workforce, standards and interoperability, and common services and other applications.

The National Health Policy 2017 (NHP-2017) of India correctly identified the need for creating many new institutions like the National Digital Health Authority (NDHA). Also, Health informatics education must be embedded as an integral part for health and hospital management. That will ensure a smooth adoption of digital health in India. India will then be recognized as a significant global player in digital health.

India has hosted the 4^th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit and the International Digital Health Symposium in the last week of February 2019. This also shows the commitment of India towards strengthening Digital Health Globally. Here the “Delhi Declaration” was adopted to accelerate and implement the appropriate Digital Health interventions to improve health of the population at national and sub-national levels, as appropriate according to national context.

Soon after, on 16^th April 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released its recommendations of ten ways that countries can use digital technologies that people can improve their lives and essential services. Therefore, there is an imminent need for people, trained in digital health management, who can confidently handle a multitude of software services and help medical professionals, hospitals, healthcare organizations and common people. Courses on digital health are very new even globally and the career opportunities for early entrants are enormous.

Here I propose a 2-day or 12-hour interactive modular course for initiating health professional educators and administrators to the concepts and practice of digital health. I have been offering this course on-site, with suitable customization according to the needs of the institutes.

Course Objectives and Competencies

References

1.  Sarbadhikari SN, Sood JM. Gamification for nurturing healthy habits. Natl Med J India 2018; 31: 253-4 / Sarbadhikari SN, Sood JM. Gamification for nurturing healthy habits. Natl Med J India Available from: http://www.nmji.in/text.asp?2018/31/4/253/258236
2. Sarbadhikari SN, Will Health Informatics gain its rightful place for ushering in Digital India?, Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 2018, 43 (2): 126–127.
3. Sarbadhikari SN & Srinivas M, Health Informatics and Health Information Management, In, Gyani G & Thomas A, Eds, Handbook of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety, Jaypee, New Delhi, 2^nded, 2016, Sec. 4, Ch. 17: 206-216.
4. Sarbadhikari SN, Medical Informatics: A Key Tool to Support Clinical Research and Evidence-based Medical Practice (Ch 15), In, Babu AN, Ed, Clinical Research Methodology and Evidence-based Medicine, 2^nd Ed, 2015: 179-191.
5. Balsari S, Fortenko A, Blaya JA, Gropper A, Jayaram M, Matthan R, Sahasranam R, Shankar M, Sarbadhikari SN, Bierer BE, Mandl KD, Mehendale S and Khanna T. Re-imagining health data exchange: An API-enabled roadmap for India. J Med Internet Res [Impact Factor 4.7], 2018. doi:10.2196/10725.
6. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, National Health Policy 2017. Available from: https://www.nhp.gov.in//NHPfiles/national_health_policy_2017.pdf
7. Sarbadhikari SN. Digital health in India – As envisaged by the National Health Policy (2017). BLDE Univ J Health Sci 2019;4: [In Press]
8. Sarbadhikari SN. Available from: https://blog.hcitexpert.com/2018/04/how-can-digital-health-be-implemented-in-NHP2017-Prof-Supten-Sarbadhikari.html - republished with permission from: http://supten.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-can-digital-health-be-implemented.html
9. National Health Portal, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, EHR Standards. Available from: https://www.nhp.gov.in/ehr-standards-helpdesk_ms
10. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and World Health Organization, India. Available from: https://www.gdhpindia.org/
11. Global Digital Health Partnership, Delhi Declaration, Available from: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-australia/25eb0facd90ee547c03071b005807288dbeac40b/documents/attachments/000/099/429/original/GDHP-Delhi_Declaration_Final.pdf?1551307009
12. World Health Organization; WHO guideline: recommendations on digital interventions for health system strengthening. Geneva: 2019. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311941/9789241550505-eng.pdf