Growing use of ICT in public health service delivery
Information management and communication processes underpin public health service delivery. Such processes are facilitated or limited by available information and communication technologies (ICT) and its effective use. Continuous advances in these technologies may require ongoing accessible education and training platforms.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) facilitate communication, the processing and transmission of information and the sharing of knowledge by electronic means. In public health practice, data collection transformed into information forms the basis for the assessment of public health needs, the development of health strategies and the monitoring of progress. Communications are essential for consultation, discussion and dissemination of knowledge within the public health workforce, and between the workforce and the general public.
Advances in these technologies generate new tools (for example, social media streaming, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and digital distribution platforms). These tools require ongoing training and development to enable effective use by the workforce. This includes the production of skilled public health information and data analysts. ICT tools offer great potential through the integrative technology of the web for e-learning, in combination with traditional learning modes to develop the learning platforms that enable continuous training and education of public health workers. Workforce skills may need to be developed to enable understanding of how information governance, (for example effective protection of citizen data), will be implemented in cross-organisational working environments.
Sources or references
- Skills for Health
- Connecting for Health Informatics Career Framework
- The power of information: putting all of us in control of the health and care information we need, Department of Health, May 2012
- Information and Communications Technologies in Public Health Tackling Health & Digital Inequalities in the Information Age (2002), Hughes, K et al., Commissioned Report for the Health Development Agency
- Embedding Informatics in Clinical Education NHS eICE Curriculum Project
- Ruiz J.G., Mintzer M.J., Leipzig R.M (2006) The Impact of E-Learning in Medical Education Academic Medicine, 81, 3
Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.
