New research on the future of clinical practice suggests that being technology savvy will be more critical than ever over the next decade — but that the majority of clinicians still don’t feel prepared.
While I could have written this headline ten years ago, the problem seems to be a lot worse at this point than it was in 2012.
The study, which was backed by Elsevier Health in partnership with Ipsos, reached out to nearly 3,000 practicing doctors and nurses around the world. The goal of the study was to look at the clinical profession today and get predictions as to what healthcare will look like in the future.
Perhaps the biggest change they see is the central importance of having strong technical skills. Clinicians surveyed predicted that over the next 10 years “technology literacy” will become the most valuable capability, even more so than their fund of clinical knowledge. In fact, 56% of respondents said they expect to base most of their clinical decisions on tools that use AI.
However, they won’t be likely to make a smooth transition unless they get more and better training, with 83% of clinicians stating that they believe training needs to be overhauled so they can keep pace with health IT advances.
As things stand, 69% report being overwhelmed by the current level of data they must digest and 69% believe that the widespread use of digital health tech may make things worse in the future.
Clinicians are also concerned about telehealth. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they believe most consultations between clinicians and patients will be remote in the future, but more than half of them believe telehealth will negatively impact their ability to demonstrate empathy to patients. Clinicians said they would benefit from guidelines as to when to use telehealth tools and how to better demonstrate empathy when viewing the patient via a computer screen.
In addition to technology worries, clinicians were predicting a global healthcare workforce shortage. More specifically, 74% predicted there be a shortfall of nurses and 68% a shortage of doctors within the decade. Not surprisingly, the majority of respondents agree that an increasing number of healthcare workers will be critical over the coming decade.
Respondents said they will eventually need to work in larger teams addressing multiple disciplines, with members such as data analysts, data security experts, and scientists on board along with the clinicians.
If the findings of this research are accurate, we are facing a quickly moving and dangerous trend in which many rank-and-file clinicians are feeling less and less competent to cope with the data storm that has engulfed the profession.
While it’s a given that some clinicians will have a greater affinity for technology than others, we can’t allow the clinical world to split up into different camps in which one side sees clinical technology as highly beneficial and keeps up with advances in the field, and other of what technology is whatever they can and don’t seek to push the boundaries of what they know about health IT.
Sorting out the issues that are driving this split goes far beyond what I could cover in a single article, I can definitely state that I’m taken aback by the extent of the problem.
