Training doctors for the digital age: Canadian study charts new course for health education

New study introduces a comprehensive framework to guide digital health training across Canada

2025-09-12

(Press-News.org) (Toronto, September 12, 2025) As Canada’s health care system rapidly adopts digital technologies, a group of Canadian researchers is calling for a major overhaul of health professional education to ensure consistent, outcomes-based training in digital health and informatics competencies. A new article published in JMIR Medical Education by researchers at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and University of Calgary proposes using the Quintuple Aim as a national guiding framework to prioritize the digital health skills health care workers need now and in the future.

The paper, titled “Shaping the Future of Digital Health Education in Canada: Prioritizing Competencies for Health Care Professionals Using the Quintuple Aim” and published by JMIR Publications, argues that current education is fragmented and inconsistent, leaving health professionals underprepared to use tools like telehealth, electronic health records, and data analytics effectively. The proposed framework offers a solution: to align digital health competencies with five key goals—improving patient experience, boosting population health, lowering health care costs, enhancing provider experience, and advancing health equity.

This model helps identify and prioritize core skills such as digital literacy, privacy awareness, user-friendly technology integration, data-informed decision-making, and inclusive access. The authors also emphasize that training programs should include practical, real-world assessments—like simulation exercises and project-based evaluations—to ensure professionals are ready to apply their knowledge in the field.

“Additional professional development opportunities in digital health are essential to support scaled and sustainable change in Canada’s health systems that can truly create opportunities for better outcomes for all,” says author Tracie Risling from the University of Calgary.

While calling for national standards, the article allows room for local adaptation, encouraging educational institutions to customize learning based on regional health needs and resources. The authors also emphasize the importance of collaboration among health care organizations, educational institutions, and technology developers to ensure that programs keep pace with rapid innovation.

Ultimately, this research signals a clear call to action: to prepare Canada’s health workforce for the digital age, the country needs cohesive, forward-thinking education strategies now more than ever.

Please read the full article here:

Rees G, Nowell L, Risling T. Shaping the Future of Digital Health Education

in Canada: Prioritizing Competencies for Health Care Professionals Using

the Quintuple Aim. JMIR Med Educ. 2025;11:e75904

URL: https://mededu.jmir.org/2025/1/e75904

DOI: doi:10.2196/75904

###

About JMIR Publications

JMIR Publications is a leading open access publisher of digital health research and a champion of open science. With a focus on author advocacy and research amplification, JMIR Publications partners with researchers to advance their careers and maximize the impact of their work. As a technology organization with publishing at its core, we provide innovative tools and resources that go beyond traditional publishing, supporting researchers at every step of the dissemination process. Our portfolio features a range of peer-reviewed journals, including the renowned Journal of Medical Internet Research.

To learn more about JMIR Publications, please visit jmirpublications.com or connect with us via Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Head office: 130 Queens Quay East, Unit 1100, Toronto, ON, M5A 0P6 Canada

Media contact: communications@jmir.org

The content of this communication is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, published by JMIR Publications, is properly cited.

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Training doctors for the digital age: Canadian study charts new course for health education

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