Analysis of the impact of a university distance learning course on digitalization in medicine on students and healthcare professionals

Purpose The public medical universities in Austria (educating 11,000 students) developed a joint public distance learning series in which clinicians discussed current digital lighthouse projects in their specialty. This study aims to examine the changes in attitude and knowledge of the participants before and after the lecture series to gain insights for future curriculum developments. Method The lecture series was announced via various channels at the universities, in health newsletters and in social media. Attitudes toward digitalization in medicine were surveyed before and after the lecture series, together with demographic data. The data were analyzed statistically and descriptively for four groups of interest: female medical students, male medical students, faculty members and members from industry and public agencies. Results Out of 351 subjects who attended at least 1 lecture, 117 took part in the survey before and 47 after the lectures. Most participants had a positive attitude towards digitalization (85.3%). They improved their self-assessment of their knowledge from 34.4% to 64.7% (p < 0.05). After the lecture series 55.8% of participants considered digital medical applications to be important or very important today and 68.6% in the future. Conclusion The study shows that the presentation and discussion of lighthouse projects improves understanding of digitalization in medicine but does not trigger a strong desire for additional further training.