Educational requirements for Health Information Systems: A scope review of the literature

Background Sound and reliable information is fundamental to decision-making across all health system. New information technologies can contribute to a more accurate and efficient public health action, requiring new and more sophisticated skills to support this change. Considering the European context, where public health professionals vary by country and cover different areas, and the need for a skilled workforce, the objective of this study is to identify the basic educational components required for a public health information specialist. This study is part of the ongoing research under INFACT Joint Action. Methods A scope review (Pubmed/Ebsco, free access texts, no time restrictions) was carried out in order to answer the following question: Considering the set of activities of public health, what are the main topics and trends of the literature on both Human Resources and Health Information Systems (HIS) training? Abstracts were read by two reviewers and the select texts analyzed using HOT-FIT framework for HIS. Results Among the 53 records, it was possible to identify different study designs and elements related to different contexts and HIS. There is a trend for new publications, with a significant increase since 2014. The content analysis showed more frequent themes in three main categories - Human, Organization and Technology, allowing identifying a wide range of public health professionals and their educational needs. Conclusions Results reinforce the link between information systems and public health, showing the importance of regular HIS as data source for monitoring population health, specific events and determinants, management and research activities and during the stages of the planning cycle of public health activities. The proper workforce capacitation emerges as a success factor for HIS implementation, as well as several professional profiles that carry out public health activities and the areas where it is necessary to strengthen their training. Key messages There’s growing interest in the use of technologies for the development of public health information systems. Workforce needs to develop specific skills for the technological challenges in Public Health.