DigiNurse

The main objective of the project is to develop the DigiNurse model for nursing education. It will be a generic model containing organisational, educational and professional elements for development of students’ digital competence.

Digitalisation of societies is a worldwide phenomenon. It will also influence social and welfare organisations and individuals at their every level. The costs of health care are on increase in many countries and on the other hand the number of so-called lifestyle diseases does not seem to decrease although nowadays people should know how to take care of themselves. In order to prevent the increase of health care costs new innovations in education and peoples’ motivation and capability of taking care of themselves are needed. Digitalisation with new technologies will provide a great chance to respond to this need in future. The project is international and it focuses on promotion of wellbeing, health and economy. It enhances the structural development of social and health care organisations in the participating countries. The project is integrated in health care education and student nurses' supervised clinical training. The project serves implementation of students’ project work and theses in bachelor and master level education.
The primary context of the project is nursing education and it also includes health care organisations, health care staff and clients of health care services. Students have 50 credits of practical training during their education, therefore the health sector partners form an elementary part in students’ development towards their professional competence. People's longevity means an economic pressure on health care funding due to age-related diseases which are often chronic in nature. Institutional care is expensive and for economical and human reasons home care will be on increase in future. One megatrend around the world is individualism and therefore people want to master their own health. Another megatrend is self-care at home. It is expected that home care causes less expenses than institutional care and societies in various parts of Europe are willing to support people’s independence. It is assumed that self-management reduces fragmentation of care, increases continuity and coordination of care and reduces both short- and long-term hospitalisation. Because of the reasons mentioned, new innovations in health service system are needed. Technological development in health care tries to answer to these needs e.g. by producing new technological devices. This development has generated the need for educating students in assisting technologies of care in order to equip them with digital competence.
The main objective of the project is to develop the DigiNurse model for nursing education. It will be a generic model containing organisational, educational and professional elements for development of students’ digital competence. From the organisational perspective the objective is that the organisation provides administrative support, economical resources and learning facilities for teachers and students.