My Digital Unacademy - a personal journey of learning and development in clinical informatics

 My Digital Unacademy

In early November last year (2019) I received an ‘unfavourable response’ to my application to Cohort 3 of the prestigious NHS Digital Academy (Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Health Leadership).

Although receipt of this news initially left me feeling dejected, in the spirit of wanting to bounce back I set out on a journey of development and learning through the following steps of My Digital Unacademy.

! The ‘steps’ covered through this write-up, are an expression and reflection of my opinions based on  my personal knowledge, attitudes, preferences, experience and circumstances i.e. what I felt worked for me.!

Also, for the record; other than being a ‘clinical informatician’ working for the NHS, being a Member of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics (FCI) and as a current student with HFMA – an HFMA member, I have no conflicts of interest to declare -the resources mentioned in this write up are simply the ones that have resonated with me on a personal note during my learning journey.

Ps. I meant to complete this write up a few months ago with a lot more reflection, but thanks to COVID this is the best I could do for now.

Step 1 – Getting started: Asking for advice and guidance

Twitter was a good starter for 10; there are loads of kind and experienced people who offered great advice and guidance.

Step 2 - Fact finding: What do I need to know?  

I studied the overviews for the six NHS Digital Academy (NHDA) modules from the NHSDA application booklet, and identified key themes from each module.

I also reviewed the following competency frameworks –

·         AHIEC HI Scope Careers and Competencies V1-9

·         CHIA-competencies-Framework_FINAL.pdf (healthinformaticscertification.com)

·         EHealth_Competency_Framework_0611.pdf (aomrc.org.uk)

·         Digital_career_framework_for_nurses_and_AHPs_sep2018.pdf (improvement.nhs.uk)

·         Health informatics competencies in postgraduate medical education and training in the UK: a mixed methods study Jidkov L, Alexander M,Bark P, et al. Health informatics competencies in postgraduate medical education and training in the UK: a mixed methods study. BMJ Open 2019;9:e025460. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025460. e025460.full.pdf (bmj.com)

!It is important to note that the UK Faculty of Clinical Informatics Competency framework – phase 1 was completed in early December 2019. The framework is now complete and this is a brilliant resource for all clinical informaticians to use Framework Introduction & Reports | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics.!

 Step 2 – Reflection: What do I already know, and what do I need to learn?

I reflected on my experience, skills and knowledge to identify areas of existing knowledge, gaps and areas for improvement.

Step 3 – Searching: What resources are out there?  

Name	CMI Level 7 – Digital Leadership Programme
Award	CMI Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Leadership & Management
Modules	-Digital Transformation – understanding the digital environment
	-Digital Leadership - becoming a digital leader
	-Digital Strategy & Implementation
Location	Online/London/Manchester
Duration	3 days + assignments
Fees	£2250 + VAT
Link	https://inpd.co.uk/course/cmi-level-7-digital-leadership-programme/

Name	University of Northampton
Award	PGCert
Modules	-Digital pedagogies & approaches to embedding technologies
	-Leading professional development & evaluating impact
Location	online learning
Duration	1yr
Fees	£2,490
Link	https://www.northampton.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-certificate-in-digital-leadership/

Name	Cornell Digital Leadership
Award	Digital Leadership Certificate
Modules	-Preparing for Digital Transformation
	-Creating Advantage Through Entrepreneurial Thinking
	-Disruptive Technology Elective
	-Systems Thinking Elective
	-Leading Through Disruption Elective
	-Analytics Elective
Location	online learning
Duration	2 months
Fees	$3600
Link	https://www.ecornell.com/certificates/technology/digital-leadership/

Name	Warwick University (Warwick Business School)
Award	PGDip
Modules	-Platform Strategy
	-Business Impacts of Artificial Intelligence
	-Business Analytics for Executives
	-Leading Digital Transformation
Location	London
Duration	4x4d (1 yr)
Fees	£18000 (upto 50% scholarship)
Link	https://www.wbs.ac.uk/executive-education/executive-diplomas/diploma-in-digital-leadership/structure/

Name	Cranfield IT & Digital Leadership Programme
Award	unclear
Modules	-Creating value from IT and digital
	-Cultivating relationships
	-Transformational digital change
Location	Cranfield
Duration	4 months/ 3.5 days + 3 days + 2 days, residential
Fees	£9,290 + VAT
Link	https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/open-executive-programmes/leadership/cranfield-it-and-digital-leadership-programme

I also reviewed the following leadership programmes –

·         Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme: NHS Leadership Academy Award in Senior Healthcare Leadership,  MSc in Healthcare Leadership (Birmingham & Manchester University)

·         Rosalind Franklin Programme: Leadership Academy Award in Senior Healthcare Leadership

·         Mary Seacole Programme: NHS Leadership Academy Award in Healthcare Leadership

(NHS Leadership Programmes at a glance: NHS-Programme-2020.pdf (leadershipacademy.nhs.uk))

·         Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM): Tomorrow's Strategic Leader programme (Associate Fellowship of FMLM), Tomorrow's Strategic Leader | Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (fmlm.ac.uk)

Another useful resource reviewed was Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) qualifications (Explore our Qualifications (hfma.org.uk)), in particular the HFMA advanced certificates -

·         Tools to support decision-making

·         Personal effectiveness and leadership

·         Creating and delivering value in UK healthcare

In early 2020 I was successful in applying to HFMA for the Advanced Certificate – Tools to support decision-making, but with the early uncertainties arising with the COVID pandemic and its potential impact on clinical and informatics work I withdrew from the programme.

To MOOC or not to MOOC.   

Prior to November 2019, other than online exam revision courses and eLFH (e-LfH Hub (e-lfh.org.uk)) I had very limited experience of using MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and other similar online learning resources, so I relied on the wisdom and experience of the many others before me via online searches and I reviewed many a fascinating commentaries relating to MOOCS.

(Coursera, edX and FutureLearn were the three resources that I used to search for relevant learning content)

It goes without saying that the Digital Health Network’s discourse/discussion forums (Digital Health Networks - The largest online community for Digital Health), webinars, as well as UKFCI webinars (Webinars | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics) provide a wealth of information with so much to learn from the experiences and knowledge of colleagues.

National events that I have enjoyed and benefited from previously and was keen to continue with included Digital Health Summer School, Rewired and the Digital Leadership summit.

Social media; the amount that can be learnt by using social media is phenomenal! It wouldn’t be appropriate to list here the organisations and personalities who I follow on Twitter; but based on experience I can state for sure that judicious doses of social media as a source for learning can’t be stressed enough.

Last but not least, the value of learning from work based experience and from learning with and from colleagues is invaluable and imperative.

Step 4 – Planning: decisions to be made

Having completed Step 1 to 3, I weighed up my options, and decided that a MOOC route supplemented by digital online networks, conference/webinar attendance, and work based experience would be my course of travel for My Digital Unacademy.

Step 5 – The plan: create a package of learning

	Course	Provider	Platform	Themes
1	Health Informatics: A Current and Historical Perspective	Georgia TechX	edX	https://prod-edxapp.edx-cdn.org/assets/courseware/v1/e56884044e9951d6d6a509e3dfee8b75/asset-v1:GTx+HI2018xI+1T2019+type@asset+block/64401_Syllabus.pdf
2	Health Informatics and Technology in Decision Making	DoaneX	edX	https://prod-edxapp.edx-cdn.org/assets/courseware/v1/c0f2ffae231b72f351f039d72e642f77/asset-v1:DoaneX+HCA-604x+2T2018+type@asset+block/HCA_604_Syllabus2.pdf
3	Digital skills: User Experience	Accenture	Futurelearn	Week 1: Why is user experience important? (The foundations of UX design / What is ‘good usability’?) Week 2: User experience basics (The importance of user research/ User journeys/ Visual design/ Structuring your site/Wireframes and interactive prototypes) Week 3: Tools and testing  (Types of user testing / Interaction design/ The importance of analysing data)
4	MedTech: Digital Health and Wearable Technology	University of Leeds	Futurelearn	Week 1: What is digital medicine? /Who are the stakeholders? / What are the opportunities and challenges? Week 2: Sensors and wearables in digital medicine / The Future of Wearables/ Big data in digital medicine
5	MedTech: Trends and Product Design	University of Leeds	Futurelearn	History of MedTech and how MedTech products have been developed/The forces driving innovation in the MedTech sector/Challenges for MedTech products to overcome/How do we make sure MedTech products are safe?/Establishing a patient and clinical need for a product/ Designing products with regulations in mind/ Bringing a product to market
6	Leading Change in Health Informatics	Johns Hopkins University	Coursera	Week 1: Leading Change in Health Informatics Week Week 2 : Project Management for Health Informaticists Week 3 : Strategic Planning in Health IT Week 4: Change Management
7	AI for Healthcare: Equipping the Workforce for Digital Transformation	University of Manchester	Futurelearn	Week 1: Introduction to the wider context of the challenges and opportunities impacting on Healthcare as outlined in the Topol Report Week 2: New and upcoming technological developments and their ethical, social, and legal implications Week 3: Wider patient pathway focusing on specific cases and datasets from different areas such as Nursing, Radiography and Deep Learning /Cancer Week 4: Challenges of governance, ‘team science’ and interdisciplinary working, data quality in the NHS Week 5: Practice-based case studies illustrating where the skills gaps have been addressed
8	Influencing People	University of Michigan	Coursera	Week 1:Building Your Base of Power Week 2: Influencing People Without Relying on Formal Authority Week 3: Developing High‐Quality Relationships to Enhance Influence and Power Week 4: Protect Yourself from Unwanted Influence
9	Leading Teams	University of Michigan	Coursera	Week 1: Designing Your Team for Excellence Week 2: Structuring Your Team for Excellence Week 3: Managing Team Dynamics Week 4: Creating Sustainable Team Performance and Learning
10	Interprofessional Healthcare Informatics	University of Minnesota	Coursera	Week 1: Informatics Theory Week 2: Data, Information and Knowledge Week 3: EHR components and Evidence based practice Week 4: Quality improvement, workflow design and redesign Week 5: Telehealth, consumer health, mobile health Week 6: Community and population health Week 7: Informatics, gaming and simulation Week 8: Informatics and ethics Week 9: Data exchange and interoperability Week 10: Informatics and the foundation of knowledge
11	Digital skills: Artificial Intelligence	Accenture	Futurelearn	Week 1: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Week 2: Artificial Intelligence in Industry Week 3: Adapting your skills to work with Artificial Intelligence
12	Inspiring and Motivating Individuals	University of Michigan	Coursera	Week 1: Becoming a Visionary Leader Week 2: Setting Effective Goals and Expectations Week 3: Understanding Human Needs and Drivers of Performance Across Cultures Week 4: Aligning Rewards and Behaviour
13	Using clinical health data for better healthcare	University of Sydney	Coursera	Week 1: An introduction to digital health Week 2: The data life cycle and stakeholder roles Week 3: Interpret health data - turn information into new insights Week 4: Share and integrate data into practice
14	Design Thinking for Innovation	University of Virginia	Coursera	Week 1: What is design thinking? Week 2: Preparing Your Mind for Innovation Week 3: Idea Generation Week 4: Experimentation
15	Foundation Training- Clinical Risk Management	NHS Digital	NHS Digital
17	The Outcomes and Interventions of Health Informatics	Johns Hopkins University	Coursera	Week 1: Knowing Where to Intervene Week 2: Defining Decision Support Week 3: Using Transactional and Summative Data and Knowledge for Decision Support Week 4: Eliciting and Creating Knowledge for Decision Support
18	CMI Level 7 Digital Leadership Programme, In Professional Development	INPD & Chartered Management Institute (CMI)	INPD	Day 1: Introduction to digital transformation/Drivers, roadmaps and risks/ Emerging tech and Hype Day 2: Readiness and a digital mindset/Digital culture/Digital buy in/ Digital Teams Day 3: Digital strategy and implementation

 

Webinars and Events attended

Work based projects

• In-house developed COVID app for clinical teams to record information relating to patient’s ongoing care and follow up which was the Highly Commended Runners up for the award category of User-led innovation award at Health Tech Newspaper (HTN) Awards, September 2020 (User-led Innovation and Experience on Vimeo)
• COVID 19 intelligence dashboards
• Draft Health Intelligence Strategy

Next steps for My Digital Unacademy

·         Carry on with the same attitude and appetite of continuous learning and development, apply learning in practice and share experiences with colleagues.

·         HFMA Advanced Certificate, Personal effectiveness and leadership (commenced 20/01/21)

·         The Reciprocal Mentoring for Inclusion programme (Reciprocal Mentoring for Inclusion programme – Leadership Academy), my Trust has been shortlisted to embark on this 18 month programme, due to commence later this year.

·         HFMA Bite sized courses (Bitesize Courses (hfma.org.uk)), in particular –

	Title	Cost (+VAT)	Level	Duration (hrs)	Free for NHS	Theme
1	Ethical and professional considerations	£150	Advanced	10	Y	Ethics
2	Service transformation and governance	£150	Advanced	10	N	Governance
3	Politics, policy and financial challenges	£120	Intermediate	6	Y	Governance
4	Integration in healthcare	£120	Intermediate	6	Y	Governance
5	Primary sources of comparative data	£150	Advanced	10	N	Information Management
6	Compiling and presenting information	£150	Advanced	10	N	Information Management
7	Information systems in decision-making	£150	Advanced	10	Y	Information Management
8	Negotiating and managing relationships	£150	Advanced	10	N	Leadership
9	Motivation and relationship management	£120	Intermediate	6	Y	Leadership
10	Managing, motivating and leading teams	£150	Advanced	10	Y	Leadership
11	Board-level decision-making	£150	Advanced	10	Y	Leadership
12	Change management	£120	Intermediate	6	Y	QI
13	Performance indicators and benchmarking	£150	Advanced	10	N	QI

Take home messages -

• If you don’t know where to start from, ask for advice.
• Everyone’s learning needs, learning preferences and personal circumstances are different, do what is right for you.
•  Look up the Competency Framework for Clinical Informaticians (The Competency Framework | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics)
• Keep your eyes and ears open for NHS Digital Academy Cohort 4
• Consider applying for CPD accreditation with FCI (CPD Accreditation | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics)
• Never stop learning.

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Useful links –

NHS Digital Academy

•  NHS Digital Academy | Health Education England (hee.nhs.uk)

Competency frameworks

• AHIEC HI Scope Careers and Competencies V1-9
• CHIA-competencies-Framework_FINAL.pdf (healthinformaticscertification.com)
•  EHealth_Competency_Framework_0611.pdf (aomrc.org.uk)
• Digital_career_framework_for_nurses_and_AHPs_sep2018.pdf (improvement.nhs.uk)
•  e025460.full.pdf (bmj.com)
•  Framework Introduction & Reports | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics

Courses

• https://inpd.co.uk/course/cmi-level-7-digital-leadership-programme/
• https://www.northampton.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-certificate-in-digital-leadership/
•  https://www.ecornell.com/certificates/technology/digital-leadership/
• https://www.wbs.ac.uk/executive-education/executive-diplomas/diploma-in-digital-leadership/structure/
• https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/open-executive-programmes/leadership/cranfield-it-and-digital-leadership-programme

Digital Health Networks

•  Digital Health Networks - The largest online community for Digital Health

UKFCI links

•  Framework Introduction & Reports | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics
• The Competency Framework | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics
•  CPD Accreditation | Faculty Of Clinical Informatics

NHS Leadership Academy

• Reciprocal Mentoring for Inclusion programme – Leadership Academy
• NHS-Programme-2020.pdf (leadershipacademy.nhs.uk)

Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management

·         Tomorrow's Strategic Leader | Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (fmlm.ac.uk)

Healthcare Finance and Management Association (HFMA)

·         Explore our Qualifications (hfma.org.uk)

o    Tools to support decision-making

o    Personal effectiveness and leadership

o    Creating and delivering value in UK healthcare

Health Tech Newspaper Awards 2020

•  User-led Innovation and Experience on Vimeo