Pre-conference: Developing curricula that empower the public health workforce to lead the digital transformations in health

Tuesday 12 November, 9:00 – 12:30 Lisbon time (followed by network lunch)

Organised by

EUPHA Digital health section, ASPHER DGPH

Background

The digital transformations of healthcare and public health services present an opportunity and a challenge for public health professionals. The public health workforce requires new skills and knowledge to take charge of these transformations and deliver a more effective and equitable health system. Currently, professionals and students in public health have limited opportunities to pursue public health degrees and training with a digital orientation. However, a much broader section of the public health workforce must acquire the relevant competencies to lead the digital transformation of health and social systems. This endeavour necessitates rapidly and effectively introducing competencies pertinent to digital transformations across most available public health curricula.

Objectives

This workshop will pursue three main aims. First, it will provide an overview of the current developments in introducing digital transformations in public health education and training. Participants will engage with and analyse already implemented examples of digital public health education across the continent. Second, the workshop will empower participants to introduce digital transformations in their education at various levels, ranging from short courses to entire curricula. Participants will leverage ASPHER’s new Core Curriculum and other education design tools that can help guide the revision of their educational material. Finally, the workshop also addresses the current research gap regarding digital public health education in Europe and beyond. We will invite the workshop participants to reflect on how best to grapple with this challenge in the future. A possible outcome of this reflection will be a guideline paper on digital transformations in public health education, for which we will invite interested workshop participants to support us as co-authors.

The pre-conference workshop has been designed for public health educators of all experience levels, and no prior knowledge of digital transformations is required.

Programme

9:00	Introduction	Stefan Buttigieg, Rok Hrzic, Laura Maaß (moderators)
9:15	Case studies of teaching digital transformations in public health across Europe	Brian Li Han Wong – Student perceptions and labour market needs for digital public health Mariusz Duplaga – Digital health at Jagiellonian University, Poland Karen Leffondré – Graduate school of Digital Public Health at the University of Bordeaux (ISPED), France Teresa Magalhães – Digital health at the National School of Public Health (NOVA), Portugal
10:30	Coffee break
11:00	Working groups Redesigning participant courses using tools from the 2024 ASPHER Core Curriculum Phase 1: Identify which digital topics are relevant to your course and identify new course objectives Phase 2: Find space in your course for new learning activities and develop them Phase 3: Create relevant assessments fit for the digital era	The participants will be working in small groups facilitated by the moderators and speakers
12:15	Concluding reflections	Stefan Buttigieg, Rok Hrzic, Laura Maaß (moderators)

Registration

The registration fee is EUR 75. Networking lunch and refreshments are included.