Journal Article

Healthcare providers’ digital competency: a cross-sectional survey in a low-income country setting

Endehabtu, Berhanu Fikadie, Shiferaw, Kirubel Biruk, Tilahun, Binyam Chakilu

2020

Overview

Background Healthcare providers across all clinical practice settings are progressively relying and adapting information communication technologies to perform their professional activities. In this era of technology, healthcare providers especially in lower income countries should have at least basic digital competency if a successful application of technology is to be achieved. The aim of this study was to assess digital competency of healthcare providers among seven public health centers in North-West Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study design was applied to assess the basic digital competency of healthcare providers working in seven public health centers in North-west Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. Self-administered questionnaire adopted from the European commission’s digital competency framework for assessing digital competency were used. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with basic digital competency with p -value< 0.05 as a rule out for statistical significance. The strength of association was explained in terms of coefficient estimate, adjusted odds ratio and a 95% confidence interval (CI). Result From the total of 193 healthcare providers included in the study, 167 of them responded which is a response rate of 86.5%. The majority of respondents 88 (52.7%) were males and the mean age was 28.2 years with a standard deviation of 5.5 years. The result indicated that all items demonstrated an adequate level of internal consistency with Cronbach alpha > 0 .7. Healthcare providers in those public health centers reported that problem solving, safety and communication are the most common challenges encountered. The multivariable logistic regression model indicated that factors such as sex, educational status, profession type, monthly income and years of experience are statistically significant predictors. Conclusion Basic digital competency level of healthcare providers working in public health centers in this setting is relatively low. The results highlight the need to improve digital competency among healthcare providers focusing on the identified skill gaps.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adult / Bridges / Communication / Computer Literacy - statistics & numerical data / Consumer health information / Cross-Sectional Studies / Data collection / Developing Countries / Digital competency / Digital health / Digital literacy / eHealth / Electronic health records / Ethiopia / Evaluation / Female / Health Administration / Health care industry / Health facilities / Health Informatics / Health Personnel / Health services / Health systems and services in low and middle income settings / Healthcare providers / Humans / Information literacy / Information processing / Information systems / Logistic Models / Low income country / Low income groups / Male / Medical personnel / Medical records / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Nursing Research / Odds Ratio / Problem solving / Professional Competence / Public Health / Research Article / Software / Surveys and Questionnaires / Technological literacy / Technology adoption / Technology application / Telemedicine