Clinical Digital Academy goes national

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has run two national Clinical Digital Academies this year to support the development of a clinical IT and informatics workforce that can lead change in the health sector.

Rosie Dobson, GM health services research and evaluation, says the academy is a joint initiative between the data and digital and the service improvement and innovation directorates at Te Whatu Ora.

"There are a lot of data and digital initiatives happening across the motu that require clinical leadership to support and enable them," she says.

The Clinical Digital Academy was developed at the former Waitematā DHB, in collaboration with the NIHI at the University of Auckland, to train its clinical IT leaders of the future in 2019. It was run by the DHB three times before expanding to cover the Northern Region in 2022.

This year the academy went national and ran in May in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and then in October in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where 24 people attended the one-week block course.

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Dobson says they were overwhelmed with applications for the national course and chose participants to ensure they represented a diverse range of clinical professions, were from a range of settings in the health system, and from around the country.

"The strength of this approach is they learn a lot from each other in how they are engaging with systems and what is available in different areas, as well as how systems are used in different contexts," she says.

"Clinicians want more skills in data and digital and we are offering training to help them implement or make improvements within their services."

Dobson says the course is a mixture of practical and traditional sessions covering topics such as; data and analytics, leading clinical change, design and evaluation, and AI and future technologies.

"We have engaged a number of local teams to lead sessions and showcase the systems they use," she explains.

Dobson says the response to the national academies has been overwhelmingly positive with attendees saying it should be continued and they would recommend it to others.

Leah Wilkins, clinical nurse specialist, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha and Te Tai o Poutini, says she applied to attend the academy to develop skills to better harness data and digital technology in her work.

"I have gained a deeper understanding and inspiration of how to utilise data to inform and drive improvement projects," she says.

"I am already using design methods I have learnt in the development of digital solutions for current projects, and I have more confidence in leading these changes."

Stacey Simpson, clinical nurse specialist, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury says the presenters were incredibly inspiring, and the fantastic mix of attendees made for some really interesting discussions.

"The syllabus took us through a very considered data and digital journey imparting foundational knowledge and practical skills that I am looking forward to applying back in my clinical role," she says.

"I came away reinvigorated with a ton of new ideas and strategies for a number of projects.

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