Vocational Training in the Health Sector – is there a Lack of Artificial Intelligence Involvement?

Representatives from Lithuania who participated in the International Digital Skills and Knowledge Survey focus group say yes. It is time to strengthen digital skills training in VET institutions and to increase knowledge of digital technologies: artificial intelligence, 3D scanning, augmented reality and block chain technology. A group convened last winter helped to define the guidelines for foreseen to develop training material. Trainings will be provided by international vocational education team, made up of representatives from training institutions and digitalization communities in European countries.

“While in the pre-pandemic period it seemed that the world was moving rapidly towards digitalization, the periods of strict quarantine have shown that the change is happening at the speed of light. The vocational education sector is no exception and is under tremendous pressure from both business and healthcare system to prepare future health professionals,” says Irma Bagdonienė, representative of Digi4HEALTH (Digital VET Toolkit on Health4.0) project in Lithuania.

An initiative to promote the Industry4.0 revolution in Europe’s health sector brought together both learners and professionals to discuss their knowledge and perceived advantages of digital technologies in healthcare sector. In a panel discussion, participants talked about tools that could make healthcare professionals more competitive at work, improve the quality of their work, reduce the time needed for medical interventions, and the adaptability of the tools to specific patient needs. Representatives were also concerned about how to facilitate the medical education and improve the education system.

“The study group consisted of representatives from Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Italy, Malta and Greece. We cannot draw Europe-wide trends, but we have noticed that certain digital technologies (e.g. 3D scanning, augmented reality and block chain) are not essential or directly necessary for their daily work and therefore do not feature on the list of the most desirable subjects to learn. However, participants emphasize the integration of the introduction to all the latest technologies in the health market into the education system,” says I.Bagdonienė.

Jonathan C. Borg (CEO of consultancy company MECB), who initiated the study and coordinates all the initiative, points out that all the changes are directed towards the new era of Health 4.0: “And it is much more than just the Internet of Things, machine learning or other common technologies. By creating a digital teaching toolkit, we will train vocational teachers who train health science students. For teachers and mentors, this will be a very useful information resource, providing free training resources.”

For more information visit Digi4HEALTH website.

Project No. 2019-1-MT01-KA202-051203