4 digital-health skillsets today’s medical educators should give tomorrow’s medical doctors

Due to the ceaseless rush of technological advancements into medicine, many future physicians graduate medical school underprepared for the digital healthcare environment. 

Few directors of residency programs would argue with that diagnosis. But how to close the gap between what med-school graduates should know and do know about medicine in the age of AI and other emerging technologies? 

Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand propose focusing on four “core competence” domains in pre-med curricula. Rebecca Grainger, MBChB, PhD, and colleagues identified the four after conducting focus groups with 17 students, semi-structured interviews with 12 medical educators and video conferences with 11 digital-sector experts. The team recruited the participants using purposive sampling, which entails screening for suitability to a given scientific inquiry. 

BMC Medical Education published the resulting study online this month. Here are portions of the researchers’ key findings, along with sample quotes from select participants. 

1. Future physicians must understand the local digital health ecosystem. 

Today’s medical students need to get the “lay of the land” in digital health, ideally in the context of their own projected role within the local community, Grainger and co-authors suggest. 

Only after receiving this introduction, they note, are tomorrow’s clinicians adequately equipped to begin identifying and assessing “the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of both current and emerging digital health interventions.” 

Med student: 

‘As soon as we got into the hospital, you kind of see the relevance of [digital health competence]. I felt a lot more interested in wanting to learn how it will work and how to use it to my advantage [and that of the community].’

2. Medical students need to become literate in digital-health safety, security and ethics.

While this imperative overlaps with acquiring a high-level understanding of the local clinical workflows, it is more concerned about workflow content and data management. 

“Several digital sector experts and medical educator participants emphasized the need for students to understand patient data collection, storage, transmission and how [such data] is used within the digital health ecosystem,” the authors report. 

Digital sector expert: 

‘We need safe, competent practitioners, and at the top of my list is [an emphasis on] privacy and security, which I think [requires] a basic understanding of the importance of protecting health information.’

3. Tomorrow’s doctors have to develop hands-on skills with digital-health tools. 

Competence in the technologies they’re likely to use will be essential for making sound clinical decisions informed by safety, security and ethical patient care, the authors assert. 

“This proficiency extends beyond the clinical environment to encompass using technology effectively for confidential and secure electronic communication for all digital activities, ensuring that demonstrable digital professionalism is maintained in all online interactions with patients and colleagues.”

Digital sector expert:

‘A lot of what we do is non-clinical work. If people aren’t expecting that, it can come as a bit of a shock to the system. There’s a lot of administrative work that needs to be done efficiently using good tools.’

4. Medical students should receive instruction in digital-health research and practice. 

“This integration enables students to effectively evaluate the opportunities and risks associated with digital health tools,” Grainger et al. explain. “[S]tudents also need to exhibit foresight to anticipate future trends, challenges and opportunities in the field of digital health and develop the scholarly skills to communicate complex ideas clearly and concisely in writing.” 

Digital sector expert: 

‘How do I access and trust information that I’m resourcing digitally? So, how do I pick through what’s accurate and what’s not? And what do I use to help make those decisions?’

The paper is posted in full for free. 

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