For a company's success, it needs motivated employees and an exchange of knowledge and opinions: This also applies to hospitals, where digitalization is placing new demands on personnel development.

The study: The healthcare sector is digitizing

The study on digitalization in the healthcare sector was led by Michaela Evans, Prof. Dr. Josef Hilbert, and Christoph Bräutigam from the Institute for Work and Technology (IAT) and funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. The health and social scientists investigated, in particular, what effects digital development has from the perspective of employees. For this purpose, the researchers conducted an online survey between June and October 2016, in which 648 employees in German clinics participated. Of the study participants, 79 percent work in the nursing sector, and six percent are doctors. The remaining participants work in assistant professions, in the therapeutic sector, or in administration and technology. In addition to the online survey, discussions were held with the managers of two hospitals.

Results: What digitalization can do in the hospital

The study evaluation shows that employees in the healthcare sector do not fear that digitalization will endanger their jobs. Quite the opposite: In principle, employees are open to digital innovations. Almost 90 percent of those surveyed are interested in them, and the majority feel confident in dealing with technical innovations. Employees in hospitals should be, too, because the use of digital technologies is already widespread here:

• over 70 percent of the study participants regularly use digital technology in the areas of communication, logistics, management and personnel, patient care, information, and qualification
• digital technologies are used for tasks such as researching specialist information, material requirements, diagnoses, and for managing patient data
• 84 percent of those surveyed use computers
• 60 percent use digital cameras
• 53 percent use monitoring systems in their work, with which, for example, patient vital signs can be monitored
• 25 percent use smartphones on duty, and one-tenth use tablets

So that digital resources can be used optimally, employees must be very familiar with them. Targeted personnel development measures through training courses and e-learning offers form the basis for efficient application. Here, HR departments in the healthcare sector can still make improvements.

Personnel must be included in digital change

The study indicates that clinics do not yet include their personnel when it comes to planning digital strategies and also do not consider special personnel development measures. According to the study, only a few employees are included in the selection and evaluation of new technologies – even though nurses and doctors, in particular, have to work with them every day. Less than 30 percent of the employees surveyed feel they are informed in a timely and comprehensive manner when it comes to digital innovations. Accordingly, 15 percent were comprehensively involved in the development of technical solutions, 12 percent in the selection of products, and less than a quarter in the evaluation of these. There is a need to catch up here: With personnel development measures, employees who have previously had less contact with technical innovations can also be brought on board. Furthermore, through the exchange between management and employees, individual deficits can be identified, and thus clear requirements for digital further education measures can be set.

Get to know the possibilities of digital further education and inspire your employees for innovations such as learning apps. Arrange a demo appointment today and find out how the individual learning app can be used in your company.