Digital health education in midwifery curriculum

Digital health education in midwifery curriculum

Background

The current programme outline for the BSc (Hons) Midwifery degree offered at Bournemouth University does not include digital health. I searched the outline for 'digital' and 'digital health', and it is not covered in the current programme or curriculum, as far as I can see.

To gather a bit more information about the module content, I visited the following Bournemouth University website. I wondered if digital health might be covered in the Leadership and Innovation in Midwifery Care module, but this is unclear. It appears the focus is on team and organisational leadership.

From this, I believe we can assume digital health is not part of standard core taught content, although it may appear in seminars etc.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council are currently undertaking a public consultation about their standards for pre-registration midwifery programmes to reflect that the UK has left the EU. The only mentions of digital in the proposed changes are:

• 1.5.8: “Have capability to develop digital and technological literacy to meet programme outcomes” (this is not a new edition).

When reading the Ockenden Review - final report of maternity services at Shrewsbury NHS Trust 2022 – the only relevant mention of digital is:

• On page 161 of the report: “This review also supports the NHS Maternity Digital Programme. We recognise this as a key enabler to improve quality and safety. The use of maternity digital notes will empower women by providing them with their own digital maternity care plan and record, discussed and agreed with them and their midwife. Enhancing and improving the digital programme will improve communication, and ultimately contribute to making maternity care safer.”

Digital Health Networks have published an interesting article on the need for better data to prevent harm in the wake of the Ockenden Report on the Digital Health Networks website.

Included in the NMC Standards of proficiency for midwives (2020) is a mediocre inclusion of digital health skills and competencies, as below:

• On page 27 - 5.12: “Effectively and responsibly use a range of digital and other technologies to access, record, share and apply data within teams and between agencies.”

• Page 41 - 6.51: “Access oral, written and digital information from sources including published evidence, data and reports to inform conversations with women, partners, and families.”

From this research, the following questions and observations have been drawn:

• What Continuing Professional Development do midwives receive throughout their careers in digital health advances etc.?

• On the Royal College of Midwives website, there are no digital health courses on their i-learn website which members can access for free.

• In All4Maternity - The Practising Midwife magazine, there are also no digital health modules on the website for members to access.

• I am unsure as to the scope of mandatory digital health training at an NHS Trust level.

• The first ever Digital Midwives leadership course has been launched at Imperial College London; however, this currently is only for digital midwives. First intake has recently commenced.

What needs to change

There is a serious need for digital health education - to meet the needs and demands of society in a digital revolution, the NHS, and for patients and the depleting workforce in a complex world. The Topol review outlines recommendations in this area and has influenced aspects of the Phillips Ives Review. However, Phillips Ives explores the specific needs of nursing and midwifery professionals.

Making digital health education core to business will improve patient safety and contribute to organisational and cultural change. The sustained implementation of digital health education and technologies should improve staff morale and retention, as well as improving clinical effectiveness and time to care etc. Digital health also enables system benefits and societal benefits – such as mobilising care in people’s communities, improving access to care, self-efficacy, agency, autonomy etc.

What should we think about in the future

There is a free, CPD-accredited resource health and care professionals can access to support or supplement their learning in digital health. It is called the Digital Health Academy, and was developed by ORCHA (The Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications) in partnership with clinicians and universities, and can be accessed on the HEE Learning Hub and on a standalone website.