Otago Business School dean Robin Gauld said the new concept of the "digital hospital" was underlying the vision of the planned new Dunedin Hospital and he understood more than 100 digital-related staff would work there.
An advertisement for staff for the new Otago digital programme referred to "the construction of Dunedin’s new digitally enabled hospital in the next decade".
"This initiative presents an exciting opportunity for digital health research and practice" in the region, the advertisement also said.
Prof Gauld, the pro-vice chancellor, commerce, said a new Otago year-long postgraduate diploma in digital health, and a shorter certificate course, also offered online, would strengthen the new hospital’s capacity, given the limited number of digital specialists working in the health sector.
The planned construction of Otago Polytechnic’s $31.7 million trades training centre would help generate and train the workforce to build the hospital.
The new Otago digital programme would help develop skills "that are going to be needed by people working in the hospital".
There was no comparable digital health qualification in the country and the postgraduate diploma, offered by the information science department in partnership with the Otago Medical School, was designed for people working or planning to work in health sector management and leadership roles.
The qualification was established in response to the healthcare system’s increasing reliability on data and digital technologies; including people managing their health on wearable devices, and others trying to predict the spread of a pandemic, using advanced analytics.
An "architect" was needed to co-ordinate the country’s public health information systems to ensure they worked more effectively, and delivered a "better patient experience", he said.
