A new WHO/Europe study published in The Lancet Digital Health shows that the use of mobile and digital technologies has improved healthcare worker performance and allowed these professionals to fully realize their capabilities. In recent years, digital tools have provided healthcare staff with easier access to information, better communication between departments, lower costs, reliable data, and improved overall productivity.
Tomas Zapata, WHO/Europe Regional Advisor, emphasizes that “digital tools can play a crucial role in optimizing the performance of healthcare and support staff, especially as we face workforce shortages across the WHO European Region.”
The World Health Organization study indicates that healthcare and support workers using digital health technologies report greater accuracy and effectiveness during commonly encountered clinical decision-making processes; reduced time required to perform tasks; improved productivity; better access to real-time, reliable data; increased knowledge acquisition; and enhanced ability to provide timely technical and specialist reports on activities, trends, and remedies.
“This study supports our Regional Digital Health Action Plan adopted for the WHO European Region 2023-2030, particularly one of its areas of interest that requires further research into evidence and best practices in the development and use of digital tools in the healthcare sector,” concludes David Novillo-Ortiz.
Digital technologies can improve interprofessional communication, adherence to clinical protocols, and the personal skills and competencies of healthcare workers. These advantages, in turn, can lead to lower costs for healthcare providers and thus reduce public and private spending.
The WHO/Europe work represents one of the first comprehensive reviews to interpret the impact of digital health technologies on the skills and performance of healthcare workers. Although the main result highlighted by the study was the overall improvement in healthcare performance, the study, conducted by co-authors from Brazil, Denmark, Germany, India, and the United States, as well as WHO/Europe experts and officials, shows that the use of telemedicine, mobile technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and other digital tools designed to support clinical decisions has enhanced healthcare worker performance and mental health, as well as their skills and competencies.
The path to more effective healthcare is thus outlined, and the WHO guidelines confirm, through in-depth and extensive analysis, what is already evident to those working in the healthcare field. The challenge now is to ensure no one is left behind and to make measured decisions based on the real effectiveness of the tools and the return on investment, in order to continually allocate more resources to our most valuable asset: public health.
