SERIES: eHealth in primary care. Part 3: eHealth education in primary care

Figures & data

Figure 1. CanMEDS medical roles and related eHealth competencies [45].

Figure 2. Conceptual model for the development, evaluation and maintenance of an eHealth education programme based on Kern [47,48].

Table 1. eHealth education initiatives and reflection on relevance.

Initiative	Description	Relevance/learning points
Clinical informatics education [53]	Based on the findings of an Australian project, suggestions are offered that may consistently improve the eHealth competencies of clinical health profession graduates and professionals.	Accrediting bodies and employers should identify and describe eHealth as a competence in their guidelines and job descriptions. All accrediting standards for health professionals should be reviewed to incorporate eHealth competencies. Ongoing professional registration should include eHealth professional development. Learning points: Further research is needed concerning (under)graduates studying for health profession degrees, including residency and CPD activities. Clarification is needed on the relevance and applicability of the eHealth skills acquired at a university or in a clinical workplace setting, and to effectively implement eHealth in daily primary care.
NFU module ‘create your own eHealth app [54]’	The project aims to develop an online education module concerning the careful development and evaluation of eHealth applications. This can be offered as an optional course in medicine (or related) programmes at Dutch University Medical Centres. During the module, the student learns how to develop a eHealth app.  Minimally, this app should be an interactive prototype with the potential for further development to become an operational app with daily medical care functionality.	The application is an interactive prototype with potential for further development to an operational app aimed at educational practice. The student needs to formulate requirements and a (non)-functional design for the eHealth app. This design needs to be (partly) implemented in an interactive prototype.  Learning points: Attention is paid to technological, organisational, financial, and legal aspects of eHealth apps and to user acceptance. The student learns to reflect on his or her eHealth application in the context of these factors.
InHolland Bachelor Nursing [13]	Students from the Bachelor programme Nursing receive an introduction on eHealth during the first semester. In that introduction, the students learn the basics of eHealth. They then work in interprofessional groups together with students studying technical subjects (e.g. electrotechnical engineering, informatics) with the goal of designing a technical solution for a health-related problem. Hackathons are used as a didactic approach to stimulating interaction. Following these first eHealth-related activities, throughout their studies the students are expected to include one substantiated technologically-based intervention in the care plans they formulate.	Students usually choose nursing for its ‘human side.’ The manner of introduction of eHealth stimulates a much-needed awareness of the use of technology in nursing. Embedding eHealth in the curriculum aligns with the new profiles of Nursing 2020. Learning Points: Challenges remain in: Organising around the differing schedules of interprofessional groups. Professionalisation of teachers to help them incorporate eHealth into their lessons.
InHolland Bachelor Dental Care [55]	The bachelor programme Dental Care contains many practical classes, which makes it more difficult to integrate eHealth into the existing curriculum. As a result, this bachelor subject has chosen to develop a separate educational track to introduce eHealth to the students so that they can begin to incorporate it into their practical classes.	The choice of a separate learning module on eHealth is a pragmatic solution, and the application of eHealth in dental care is relatively new. Learning points: Challenges remain in providing up-to-date contents for eHealth Dental Care.

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