JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Demands on healthcare services can greatly outweigh capacity. Multifactorial causative factors present great challenges, forcing the NHS to increase efficiency and adaptivity. Concurrently, digital advancements are excelling and long-term plans for NHS sustainability are focusing on the use of technological interventions to benefit patients. As a result, integration of Extended Reality (XR) technology has become an important focus of healthcare research. However, models of how the digital literacy of healthcare workforces can be developed and how front-line staff can be actively involved in the design and development of creative digital interventions are lacking. Such programmes are essential to allow the development and upscaling of digital innovation within the NHS for the benefit of the patients. Such a programme has been developed in the Digital Futures research lab at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, representing one of the first immersive digital technologies research spaces embedded within the NHS. A ‘Digital Deep Dive’ training programme has been developed, allowing local healthcare workers to recognise the possibilities of digital healthcare technologies and supporting them in the evolution of ideas for potential bespoke digital solutions appropriate to their own patient groups and care pathways.

Objective:

This paper aims to explain the development of this unique XR Deep Dive programme and present the evaluation which informed future directions for its ongoing development.

Methods:

The Deep Dive sessions were designed according to relevant pedagogic principles, including Experiential, Active and Contextual Learning theories. Voluntary pilot sessions were held for local clinical teams comprised of junior doctors, consultants, nurses, and allied health professionals. Self-selection sampling was used. Participants completed an anonymous post-session feedback form which was used to conduct a Service Evaluation. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics (quantitative) and thematic analysis (qualitative).

Results:

Twenty-one completed questionnaires were analysed. Overall, the sessions were positively received: all participants reported increased awareness of the potential for digital healthcare innovation post-session and most found it useful and relevant to their clinical careers. Participants valued the sessions being grounded in a context relevant to local practice with opportunities to interact with the technology through the lens of use cases.

Conclusions:

We have developed a unique training initiative providing contextually relevant XR technology awareness training for healthcare professionals locally. Despite the growing pace of digital healthcare innovation, we recognised a knowledge gap in our local workforce regarding the potential of XR technologies within healthcare. We responded by developing a training programme grounded in the concept of digital co-creation; working with staff and service users to develop bespoke solutions integrated within patient pathways. The results from this paper will help to inform future directions for developing digital awareness training in our trust and has implications for wider NHS digital literacy training.