Currently accepted at: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 3, 2025
Date Accepted: Jun 11, 2026
This paper has been accepted and is currently in production.
It will appear shortly on 10.2196/86878
The final accepted version (not copyedited yet) is in this tab.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Understanding Skill Gaps and Training Needs in Health Data Quality: A Cross-Sectional Survey of European Stakeholders for the EHDS
ABSTRACT
Background:
As the secondary use of health data gains momentum across Europe, the European Health Data Space (EHDS) sets provisions for data governance and quality, with its implementation supported by the EU-funded QUANTUM project. A key component of the EHDS is the introduction of a data quality and utility labelling framework. However, there remains limited understanding of whether European health data stakeholders are sufficiently prepared to assess and manage data quality.
Objective:
This study aimed to identify current skill gaps, training needs, and organisational readiness related to health data quality among European stakeholders, including data holders, data users, and health data access bodies, within the context of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and April 2024, targeting individuals involved in the secondary use of health data. The survey assessed five domains: stakeholder roles, individual skills and experience, perceived challenges, organisational support, and learning preferences. In total, 64 responses were collected from participants across 18 European countries and 44 different institutions.
Results:
Respondents frequently work with health data and acknowledge its importance, yet stakeholders encounter persistent challenges due to missing data (87.5%). While 79.7% had prior experience with data quality tasks, notable skill gaps remained in key areas such as auditing and reporting (12.3%), documentation and metadata management (11.3%), and applying data quality metrics (13.7%). Organisational support was often limited: only 15.6% reported clearly defined data quality roles, and two-thirds indicated the absence of a dedicated data quality manager or team.
Conclusions:
European health data stakeholders recognise the importance of data quality but face both individual and organisational barriers. Addressing these capacity gaps, especially through targeted, role-specific training and improved governance will be essential for implementing the EHDS data quality labelling requirements effectively.
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