The typing is on the wall: Australia's healthcare future needs a digitally capable workforce

Digital health technologies are a proposed solution to improve healthcare delivery and reduce pressures on the healthcare system, but these technologies are new to much of the health workforce. This perspective paper highlights lessons learned from the global experience of rapid digital transformation of health workforces, including fostering a culture of learning, ensuring accreditation and recognition, and adopting a transdisciplinary approach. Evidence-based actions are proposed to address recommendations to (1) ensure foundational workforce digital health capability and (2) build specialist digital health career pathways. Australia must take a national approach and strategically leverage strong collaborations across sectors including healthcare, education and government to ensure a consistent, regulated and sustainable digital workforce capability. What is known about the topic? Strategies to address education and training in digital health and clinical informatics exist, but progress has been slow to upskill the current and emerging healthcare workforce in digital skills. What does this paper add? We identify existing strategies for enhancing workforce capability in digital health and outline strategy-to-action recommendations to address this critical shortfall in Australia. What are the implications for practitioners? The increasing demands on contemporary healthcare workers mean we need to leverage digital technologies and new models of care to ensure sustainable healthcare delivery into the future.