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Vol. 57 No. 1 (2021)
Original Articles
2021-03-23
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COVID-19 and digital competencies among young physicians: are we (really) ready for the new era? A national survey of the Italian Young Doctors Association

Authors

Calogero Casà , Claudia Marotta , Marcello Di Pumpo , Armando Cozzolino , Andrea D'Aviero , Emanuela Maria Frisicale , Andrea Silenzi , Francesco Gabbrielli , Luigi Bertinato , Silvio Brusaferro

Keywords: medical education, information technology, artificial intelligence, innovation, digital health

Abstract

Background. Digital health (DH) is nowadays fundamental for physicians. Despite the improvement of Information and communications technology (ICT) Italian medical doctors’ (MDs) education system seems not adequate in this area. Moreover, given the Covid-19 outbreak, societies are waking up to their limitations in this regard. Aim of this paper is to analyze the Italian status quo in DH.

Methods.The Italian Young Medical Doctors Association (SIGM) proposed a web based survey to assess the status quo of awareness and training in terms DH among young doctors. The investigated areas were: Big Data, -omics technology and predictive models, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, Telemedicine, social media, blockchain and clinical-data storage.

Results.

A total of 362 participants answered to the survey. Only 13% had any experience in big data during clinical or research activities, 13% for -omics technology and predictive models, 13% for AI, 6% had experience in Internet of Things, 22% experienced at least one telemedicine tool and 23% of the participants declared that during their clinical activities data collection is paper-driven.

Conlclusions.For any investigated area, three categories of MDs were described: the high-tech, the low-tech and the no-tech one. An urgent integration of pre- and post- graduation training in DH is required to provide a homogeneous and adequate medical education.

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Authors

Calogero Casà - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Claudia Marotta - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

Marcello Di Pumpo - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Armando Cozzolino - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy

Andrea D'Aviero - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Emanuela Maria Frisicale - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy Azienda Sanitaria Locale (ASL) Roma 1, Rome, Italy

Andrea Silenzi - Italian Young Doctors Association, Rome, Italy Brescia Agency for Health Protection, Brescia, Italy Center for Leadership in Medicine Research and Studies, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Francesco Gabbrielli - National Centre for Telemedicine and New Healthcare Technologies, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Luigi Bertinato - Clinical Governance Coordinator, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Silvio Brusaferro - President, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

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Copyright (c) 2021 Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanità

How to Cite
Casà, C., Marotta, C., Di Pumpo, M., Cozzolino, A., D'Aviero, A., Frisicale, E. M., Silenzi, A., Gabbrielli, F., Bertinato, L., & Brusaferro, S. (2021). COVID-19 and digital competencies among young physicians: are we (really) ready for the new era? A national survey of the Italian Young Doctors Association. Annali dell’Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 57(1), 1–6. Retrieved from https://annali.iss.it/index.php/anna/article/view/1170
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