The GCC Taskforce on Workforce Development in Digital Healthcare envision a sustainable digital health ecosystem through a skilled and empowered local eHealth workforce. Their target is to improve the digital health skills and competencies of young talents in the fields of Health Information Management, Health Information Technology and Health Informatics through continuous training and career development pathways
The GCC Taskforce on Workforce Development in Digital Healthcare envision a sustainable digital health ecosystem through a skilled and empowered local eHealth workforce. We can achieve this by improving the eHealth skills and competencies of national human resources in the fields of Health Information Management, Health Information Technology and Health Informatics, through continuous training and the development of career pathways.
HEALTHCARE IS CHANGING
Healthcare has moved to a Skill Economy; a system built on the individual skills we possess, work and life experiences, accomplishments, and personal networking. Technology (eHealth, EHR, etc), changing regulatory and legislative policies, global and population health, value-based health outcomes, personalized medicine, virtual care, and patient-centric care models dependent on inter-professional teams have changed the skill set necessary to practice medicine.
Role requirements, competencies, and skill profiles are being redefined. Studies suggest that academic training in the areas of leadership, professional employability skills (e.g., teamwork), and business acumen (e.g., Lean Six Sigma) are not sufficient to meet the practical skills the healthcare industry demands.
In the GCC region, overall demand for healthcare is anticipated by McKinsey to increase by 240% over the next 20 years. Due to the immense need to increase efficiency and improve both service quality and patient safety, digital transformation of the healthcare system has become an imperative and not an option. However, the beating heart of any successful healthcare ecosystem is its workforce.
The changing ecosystem requires a robust and sustainable supply of highly skilled professionals, who are proficient not only in their specialty or domain but also in eHealth/health IT, to use, operate and optimize the digital services. Additionally, GCC countries are also witnessing a huge shift towards Universal Health Coverage and Value-based Care, which entails creating thousands of jobs to operate and maintain the required insurance information intensive systems.
The GCC countries are facing a healthcare workforce and ecosystem sustainability challenge at the same time as the demands from its professionals are being redefined and training requires new approaches.
OUR VISION:
A sustainable digital health ecosystem through a skilled and empowered local eHealth workforce.
OUR MISSION
Improve the eHealth skills and competencies of national human resources in the fields of Health Information Management, Health Information Technology and Health Informatics, through continuous training and the development of career pathways.
OUR GOALS:
Measure
- Map, quantify and project the demand and supply for digital health workforce and competencies.
- Analyze and benchmark captured information against international best practices and trends.
- Design a GCC-specific maturity model for measuring and benchmarking the sustainability of the digital health workforce that can be utilized by government authorities, healthcare service providers and vendors.
Educate
- Engage governments, national human resource development authorities and Healthcare service providers on the outcomes of the survey and the importance of investing in eHealth workforce development.
- Develop with all eHealth stakeholders an eHealth competency-based framework for foundational curricula, job descriptions, associated salary scales and career pathways of a digital health workforce.
- Raisethe awareness of current and future digital healthcare career opportunities to young talents in GCC countries.
Empower
- Tailor up-skilling and cross-skilling training programs for the GCC region.
- Adopt & localize online digital healthcare courses for continuous and on-the-job training.
- Provide consultancy services to
- Governments and healthcare providers on (i) adopting and implementing the eHealth competency-based framework; and (ii) planning and executing their eHealth workforce development component within their digital transformation strategies
- Universities and training institutes on tailoring eHealth/digital healthcare educational and professional development programs to the specific market demands of the GCC region.
Discover more about the Dubai Health Authority (DHA):
Dubai Health Authority (DHA) provides a quality healthcare system in Dubai by setting and ensuring policies and strategies for healthcare in public and private hospitals and clinics in Dubai. DHA works to ensure that public health is protected and quality of life is improved, provides health strategy for Dubai to meet future needs, ensures partnerships between public and private health service providers, provides licensing and regulation across the Dubai Health Sector and strives to increase the transparency and accountability of the healthcare system in the emirate.
