Through "Level Up", Compare offers a digital skills upgrade for 300 managers in care, health and welfare. The aim is to give them tools to drive digital transformation in their businesses, which both increases productivity and leads to improved services.
The digital transformation Covid-19 has created within the health and care sector has increased the pressure on changed working methods and digitization. According to a report from PTS, the Swedish Post and Telecommunications Board, the development has also focused on the different conditions that exist both between different businesses and regions, where those who were already further ahead in their digital transition before the pandemic have fared better.
This has also raised questions about what digital competence is required for employees in leading roles in the health and care sector. Increased competence should strengthen managers' position on the labor market and confidence in their own abilities in digitization and innovation, which will enable them to see new opportunities and better respond to the demands of driving a transformation.
- An important point with digital tools and new working methods is to be able to free up resources and offer users better and more individually tailored care. An education that provides concrete support for managers in driving this development is really needed, says Cecilia Kindahl, deputy head of department at the elderly administration in Karlskrona municipality, and part of the education's steering group.
Basic skills necessary for transformation
A key factor is also that the staff can handle and develop digital tools and work methods in a rapidly changing environment, where operational managers have an important role in creating the conditions. According to PTS, a certain basic competence is required in the health and care sector to be able to use the potential of digitization, access to digital solutions alone is not enough. The ability to transform is crucial to creating better productivity and improved services in the public sector.
Jenny Thalin, project manager for Compare's "Level Up" initiative, believes that the individual and module-adapted structure of the education should provide knowledge that can be implemented directly in the business.
Compare's initiative "Level Up" is financed by the European Social Fund and extra emphasis is placed on women, who will have access to 200 of the 300 training places. Occupations that require high school education risk being automated to a nine times higher extent, compared to occupations that require more than three years of university studies. According to Statistics Norway's statistics, 85 percent of the care and social care staff who have an education at upper secondary level are precisely women, who are often underrepresented in investment in technology, digitization and innovation.
Module-based learning according to knowledge level
The competence-enhancing efforts must be able to be adapted to the participants' level of knowledge. A basic philosophy is that increased breadth of knowledge around innovation and digitization also paves the way for more cutting-edge initiatives and builds capacity for innovation.
- It is important that the education offers something for everyone, because we see that we have different levels of competence when it comes to technology and digitization. By creating a concept based on modules, we leave it up to the participants themselves to choose the puzzle pieces that fit best, says Jenny Thalin, Innovation Manager at Compare.
The educational efforts will begin in the fall of 2022 in digital format. The arrangement is based on a flexible schedule that can be combined with regular work. It also creates an opportunity for the participants to put their new knowledge into practice, so that it will be of direct use in the business. Through a modern learning platform, the training will also create conditions for network building between the participants, which provides the opportunity for experience exchange and in-depth learning.
HIOS support in national needs analysis
During the spring, an analysis phase is underway to gather knowledge about the national need in the health and care sector, where, among others, Health Innovation of Sweden (HIOS) is a partner. HIOS is a digital innovation hub whose role is to support development, implementation, training and create trust in new digital health services. The network consists of universities, regional innovation hubs and the national research institute RISE.
