Social services and healthcare personnel’s digital competence profiles: A Finnish cross-sectional study

IF 3.7 2区医学 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS

International Journal of Medical Informatics Pub Date : 2024-10-18 DOI:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2024.105658

Minna Ylönen , Panu Forsman , Tapio Karvo , Erika Jarva , Teuvo Antikainen , Petri Kulmala , Kristina Mikkonen , Tommi Kärkkäinen , Raija Hämäläinen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Recent research has highlighted the deficiencies and variations in the digital competences of social services and healthcare personnel. Yet there is a shortage of data regarding how the personnel use digital devices and solutions and their attitudes towards digitalisation. Hence, a systematic investigation into digital devices and solutions in healthcare is warranted.

Objectives

This study aimed to analyse the similarities and differences in digital competences and organisational support among healthcare personnel, focusing on using digital applications and services. The primary research question was to investigate what kinds of digital competence profiles are identifiable through social services and healthcare personnel self-assessments.

Methods

The survey was conducted in the Wellbeing Services County of Central Finland at the end of 2023. It utilised validated self-assessment methods and garnered 643 responses from social services and healthcare professionals. Data analysis involved quantitative cluster analysis for grouping participants and qualitative content analysis for describing the clusters.

Results

The study resulted in a final model of seven clusters that presented distinct digital competence profiles with relatively even sizes. These clusters represented the different aspects of digital usage among social services and healthcare professionals. They could be categorised into three overarching profiles: 1) Motivated digital experts, 2) Burdened digital users and 3) Frustrated survivors. Motivated digital experts comprised up almost half of the respondents (45.1%). Still, the findings also facilitated identifying of a small group of Frustrated survivors (7.5%) who represented burdened and stressed digital users.

Conclusions

The results indicate significant variances in digital competence profiles among employees. Social services and healthcare personnel perceive the opportunities and challenges associated with digital applications and services differently. Further detailed research into the disparities between digital competence profiles is necessary, particularly regarding the types of support that benefit different profiles the most.

查看原文本刊更多论文

社会服务和医疗保健人员的数字化能力概况：芬兰横断面研究。

背景：最近的研究强调了社会服务和医疗保健人员在数字化能力方面的不足和差异。然而，有关这些人员如何使用数字设备和解决方案以及他们对数字化的态度的数据却十分匮乏。因此，有必要对医疗保健领域的数字化设备和解决方案进行系统调查：本研究旨在分析医疗保健人员在数字化能力和组织支持方面的异同，重点关注数字化应用和服务的使用。主要研究问题是调查通过社会服务和医疗保健人员的自我评估，可以识别出哪些类型的数字化能力特征：调查于 2023 年底在芬兰中部的福利服务县进行。调查采用了经过验证的自我评估方法，共收到来自社会服务机构和医疗保健专业人员的 643 份回复。数据分析包括对参与者进行分组的定量聚类分析和描述聚类的定性内容分析：研究最终得出了由七个组群组成的模型，这些组群呈现出不同的数字能力特征，且规模相对均衡。这些聚类代表了社会服务和医疗保健专业人员使用数字技术的不同方面。它们可被归类为三个主要特征：1）积极的数字专家；2）负担沉重的数字用户；3）沮丧的幸存者。积极的数字专家几乎占受访者的一半（45.1%）。不过，研究结果也有助于确定一小部分沮丧的幸存者（7.5%），他们代表了负担沉重、压力巨大的数字用户：结论：研究结果表明，员工在数字化能力方面存在很大差异。社会服务人员和医疗保健人员对与数字应用和服务相关的机遇和挑战的看法各不相同。有必要进一步详细研究数字能力概况之间的差异，特别是对不同概况最有利的支持类型。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Medical Informatics 医学-计算机：信息系统

CiteScore

8.90

自引率

4.10%

发文量

217

审稿时长

42 days

期刊介绍： International Journal of Medical Informatics provides an international medium for dissemination of original results and interpretative reviews concerning the field of medical informatics. The Journal emphasizes the evaluation of systems in healthcare settings. The scope of journal covers: Information systems, including national or international registration systems, hospital information systems, departmental and/or physician''s office systems, document handling systems, electronic medical record systems, standardization, systems integration etc.; Computer-aided medical decision support systems using heuristic, algorithmic and/or statistical methods as exemplified in decision theory, protocol development, artificial intelligence, etc. Educational computer based programs pertaining to medical informatics or medicine in general; Organizational, economic, social, clinical impact, ethical and cost-benefit aspects of IT applications in health care.