The Fourth Digital Health Society Summit puts the use of Big Data in the health sector in the spotlight

The Fourth Digital Health Society Summit was held on 4 and 5 October. Different professionals from the sector spoke about innovation and research projects and addressed the challenges in the digital environment and big data faced by the health care sector.

This year the summit focused on the topic “Data and digital services to support the recovery of health systems worldwide”.

Supporting the recovery of global health systems through data and digital services

At this roundtable, the speakers reviewed the emergence of big data as a technological and social innovation, and how this massive amount of information is a useful tool to make up for the shortcomings that European health systems may have in terms of resources. According to the experts, one of the biggest problems the health care system had to deal with during the pandemic was that these systems were largely analogue and based on a face-to-face care model.

These experts spoke of how big data and the digitisation of systems has brought about an improvement in the health care system. Changes have allowed the development of durable digital solutions that can be extrapolated to a post-pandemic context.

Finally, Angela Brand, director of the Digital Health Society, added that “there is an opportunity to promote democracy influenced by freedom of expression on social networks. Not only do we need to be able to collect and distribute information, but we also need to be able to edit and stimulate this content in a clear and fair way.”

Data science and digital skills. How they can help with staff development, recruitment and resilience

In this session, they discussed how the pandemic affected health care workers. There was a lack of staff and, at the same time, demand for workers with digital skills was very high. These two facts indicate a trend towards an increase in health care driven by big data and, therefore, a need for professionals in this field.

It was also mentioned that in the European context there are increasing differences in the skillsets of health care professionals in different countries. This affects connectivity and staff turnover between countries. As a result of this problem, proposals such as the European Health Management Association (EHMA) have been made. This is intended to provide solutions and promote health care careers focused on the digital world.

How to make a success of the European Health Data Space (EHDS): perspectives of those involved

Another session dealt with the EHDS. With the aim of applying big data to health services in a European context, the European Commission is working to create this shared space that allows citizens themselves to control their health information and promote connection between the different agents in the health and wellness sector. Similar projects, such as MyHealth@EU, already allow health care staff to treat patients from other EU countries with a detailed health care profile that is automatically translated.

Artificial Intelligence in the health care sector: safety and pace

This presentation was given by Rachel Dunscombe, an expert in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of health care and wellness. According to Dunscombe, the general public are aware of the possibilities offered by AI, but unaware of the more technical aspects, such as governance and quality assurance.

Ms Dunscombe stated that “working with AI in the health sector should be like working with a doctor or a resident nurse”; in other words, you need an expert professional who knows what they are doing.

On the other hand, the expert also mentioned the lack of specialised health care staff who understand how the algorithms work and are able to work with them. She predicts that in the coming years there will be an increase in health-related positions in the digital field, and it will be these professionals who will oversee AI.