Those who need digital health education are the least likely to seek it out. Peak bodies and colleges must engage their members in this or fall into the chasm.
At almost every conference or gathering of digital health professionals I attend, I am reminded of the chasm that still exists in digital readiness and capability between segments of our workforce.
While hospital CXIOs are rolling out sophisticated whole-of-system information systems, some of our healthcare workers are yet to upload a patient note to My Health Record.
I stress that this isn’t the fault of individuals.
Until recently, allied health workers were not part of the information ecosystem or broader national digital health agenda. The workforce shortage, necessitating a focus on care provision to the exclusion of other things, did its part in pushing digital health off the agenda.
But times are changing, and there is widespread recognition that digital health can alleviate workforce pressures, create more efficiency and help deliver better care through the sharing of information and use of technology.
So why does the chasm still exist?
We know that the very large pockets of low digital maturity and capability in the health workforce need urgent attention. But when it comes to engaging with digital health education and resources to help with capability uplift, those who need them most are the least likely to do so.
The Australasian Institute of Digital Health – long focused on supporting digital health experts further refine their expertise – tuned in to this issue a couple of years ago. We recognised that in order to achieve the “One Health” system we strive for, we need a levelling of the capability playing field.
That is, an investment in capability beyond the informed or expert cohort.
So, we created resources and courses for the health workers who have no or little prior knowledge of digital health; those working in aged care, allied health and primary care mostly.
Digital Health 101 was born, quickly followed by AI in Healthcare Essentials and a foundational course on change management in digital health. All created by experts, self-paced and easy to consume.
We thought they’d fly off the shelf. They didn’t. At least not with the cohort they were intended for. A couple of years on, not much has changed.
Guess who did jump at them? The Australian Digital Health Agency, departments of health around the country and large hospitals.
At first, I found this counterintuitive. Why would these organisations, with high capability, have a hunger for 101 content?
Related
On closer consideration, it made perfect sense. It takes an existing understanding of the importance and role of digital health to recognise where capability in an organisation might need a nudge.
The Agency, for example, employs hundreds of people – many in support roles such as administration, marketing and finance. Many of these employees come from other sectors. The pool of expert talent in digital health is small.
In providing the direction that all employees – including those who work in support roles – should have a base level of understanding of digital health, the Agency has signalled its genuine commitment to organisation-wide capability uplift.
I applaud them for this. It makes a heck of a difference to us at the AIDH, as their partners on digital health projects, to work with people who are knowledgeable in digital health, even if they work in finance or marketing.
I am left questioning why these resources are failing to resonate with the people they were intended for.
My hunch is that it comes down to two things:
First, digital health is simply not even on the radar for many health practitioners. That may be hard for us to believe in 2025, but the evidence suggests that, for swathes of the healthcare workforce, digital health is a remote and intangible thing and not something that warrants attention today.
And secondly, there is no one to tell them otherwise. Or, more precisely, the voices they listen to aren’t telling them otherwise.
These voices are the peak bodies and member associations of the various healthcare disciplines in Australia. In a desktop review of seven peaks’ strategic plans, only two prominently feature digital health as a pillar of importance – the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators are notable exemplars.
There is much talk about the role of AHPRA in carrying the responsibility for capability uplift.
AHPRA indeed has a role to play in ensuring that undergraduate health courses feature digital health, and that digital health becomes part of the future skill mix. They’re doing work to achieve this.
In the meantime, this is a call to action to all healthcare peak bodies and associations to actively engage with digital health: to facilitate forums to explore the issues as they apply to your professions, to engage with organisations like the Agency and AIDH to delve into enablement and adoption, and to ready your members for the digital transformation of healthcare.
The future is almost here, let’s be ready for it.
Anja Nikolic is the CEO of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.
