Akhona Nkwanyana

The digital era that we find ourselves living in, health data analytics has become an important tool viewed as necessary for improving patient outcomes, streamlining healthcare processes, and ensuring that decision-making is data-informed. Health data analytics or commonly known as “big data analytics in healthcare”, is considered a systematic way of analysing health data by health professionals with the objective of improving the overall management of the health system and all that comes with it (e.g. patient engagement, budgeting/costs and treatment planning). With the current growing influence of Artificial intelligence (AI), and the talks and planned rollout of the South African National Health Insurance system, it seems significant that healthcare professionals cultivate technical, analytical and ethical skills and/or competencies to navigate this ever-changing landscape.

A question seems to come up when reflecting on the above: Are health practitioners ready to embrace the power of data in healthcare?

A review is on the cusp of concluding and aims to understand what health practitioners need to be ready. Forming part of a multidisciplinary team of local and American experts, I am leading a scoping review that maps the global landscape of skills and competencies in health data analytics for health professionals. Using a rigorous, systematic, and evidence-based framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley, the review has sifted through a decade’s (2012 to 2022) global literature to uncover the known, missing and—most importantly—  needed health data analytical skills and/or competencies.

So…why should this matter?

It matters because healthcare is no longer just about bedside manners and clinical knowledge. It’s about understanding data—big, fast, complex data—and translating it into smarter diagnoses, better illness and disease prevention and treatment, more efficient health systems, and proactive public health strategies. From hospital administrators to healthcare providers (such as doctors, nurses, community health workers, and more), professionals need a new toolkit, and this review aims to map what we know and what more is needed to be known to develop it. This review is, to my knowledge, the first of its kind to comprehensively scope literature that determined health professionals’ skills and/or competencies when it comes to data analytics, which is fast becoming essential across every level of the delivery of healthcare.

Why is this review different?

• Global relevance: It explores variations across high-, middle-, and low-income countries, giving a truly international perspective on health data competency needs.
• Impact potential: Findings can inform curriculum development, help design targeted training programmes, and influence policy on healthcare workforce development.
• Innovation-ready: The insights could fuel the creation of a comprehensive skills framework, directly feeding into the fourth Industrial Revolution in healthcare.

Conducting this review ensures that the appropriate skills and/or competencies are highlighted that equip health professionals, who may often be unprepared, with the abilities to work with digital tools, understand electronic health records/data, and apply real-time data necessary for clinical and managerial/administrative decision-making. A problem has been identified, namely that many healthcare workers, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, lack the foundational skills to navigate this data-rich environment, such as basic data interpretation. As a result of this, we could potentially see a workforce gap that could limit digital health innovations in the near future.

Our review then comes in to summarise the state of skills and/or competencies that support smart, evidence-based healthcare.

What can we then expect from the review?

• A categorised list of skills and/or competencies currently identified in the literature.
• Geographic mapping of where these skills are emphasised—or missing.
• A narrative summary of the similarities, differences, and key trends across settings.
• Recommendations for course development, policy adjustments, and investment in workforce development.

Get Ready for the Future of Healthcare

As we await the results, one thing is clear: this review could influence how we train the next generation of healthcare professionals, especially as artificial intelligence, big data, and digital health tools might become the norm rather than the exception.

A chance has been provided for this study to contribute towards knowledge that’s redefining healthcare—not just technologically, but educationally and systemically. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and shared widely through conferences, webinars, and social media.

Follow the journey. Share the mission. And be among the first to dive into the findings when they’re released. Because in a world where data drives decisions, skills drive change. Because the next generation of healthcare heroes won’t just wear stethoscopes—they’ll speak the language of data.

Follow for updates, and be part of the journey to smarter, data-enabled healthcare.

Note. The headline image of this blog post was generated with the help of Microsoft Copilot using artificial intelligence. Health data analytics skills and competencies for health professionals.