What practice competencies and training approaches are required for public health practitioners to support the digital transformation of public health? A Rapid Review (Preprint)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in public health workforce’s capacity to deploy digital technologies, while upholding ethical, social justice and health equity principles. Existing practice and competency frameworks have not been updated to reflect the prominent role digital technologies play in contemporary public health, and public health training institutions are seeking to integrate digital technologies in their curricula.

We conducted a rapid review to identify recommended practice competencies and training approaches that can enhance public health practitioners’ capacity to support the digital transformation of public health functions.

Following the World Health Organization’s (2017) guidelines for rapid reviews, we searched OVID Medline, OVID Embase, ERIC, and Web of Science for peer-reviewed articles. We also searched Google scholar, public health agency and public health association websites for grey literature using search terms related to public health, digital health, and training and practice competencies. We included articles with training and practice competencies recommendations for digital technologies among population and public health practitioners, published between January 2010 and December 2022. We excluded articles describing these concepts from a clinical perspective.

Our search returned 2023 titles and abstracts out of which 12 studies were included. We found recommendations for new competencies to enable public health practitioners to appropriately utilize digital technologies that cut across all existing public health competency categories. We also identified a new competency category related to data, data systems management and governance. Training approaches identified include combined public health and informatics or data science degree programs and certifications, and practice-based learning in multi and interdisciplinary contexts. Disciplines relevant to identified training include public health, public health informatics, data, information and computer sciences, biostatistics, health communication and business.

To adequately support the digital transformation of public health, evidence suggests the workforce requires new competencies that cut across and extend existing public health competencies. These competencies cover multiple public health domains and range from protection and use of new digital data sources to public communication using digital technologies like social media. Ongoing professional development and adapted degree awarding programs that emphasize the role of interdisciplinary training and practice.