University of Queensland graduates are meeting the growing demand for e-Healthcare and telehealth professionals across the sector.
Researchers found that 80 per cent of UQ e-Healthcare graduates believe their qualification advanced their careers in telehealth, which is one of the most rapidly rising areas in the sector today.
UQ Centre for Online Health (COH) researcher Dr Sisira Edirippulige said healthcare practitioners needed to know how to integrate telehealth into their everyday practice.
“One of the main objectives of running the e-Healthcare courses is to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to help them with their professional practice in e-Health or clinical telehealth,” Dr Edirippulige said.
“The other, just as important, objective is to assist graduates in advancing their professional careers,” he said.
“It’s pleasing to see that the programmes we have been offering are proving successful and helping graduates with their career progression.”
The survey showed that 77 per cent of graduates had worked in e-Healthcare-related jobs since graduation and 94 per cent were glad that they had studied e-Health at UQ.
The findings were published in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare on 3 December 2012.
e-Health, and now clinical telehealth, are areas that are rapidly gaining attention in the healthcare sector.
e-Health focuses on technology in healthcare delivery and explores the effect of the increasing use of communications technology in healthcare practice.
Clinical telehealth promotes high-quality, secure clinical services through healthcare workers using an online medium, allowing remote, rural or frail patients access to a range of healthcare facilities.
“The COH is also offering some new courses in 2013 specifically focussing on clinical telehealth, which are offered at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels,” Dr Edirippulige said.
“We’ve found that courses in e-Health and clinical telehealth offer excellent development opportunities across a range of disciplines, such as rehabilitation science, nursing, psychiatry, as well as traditional medicine.”
The published paper: A qualitative study of the careers and professional practices of graduates from an e-health postgraduate programme is available online.
Media Contact: Joanne Grey, University of Queensland Centre for Online Health, 07 3346 4754 or j.grey2@uq.edu.au
About the Centre for Online Health
The University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health (COH), situated in the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane is recognised internationally for its role in research, teaching and service delivery in clinical telehealth and telemedicine. Established over 12 years ago, the centre has particular strengths in telepaediatrics and telegeriatrics and its work has been extensively reported in the published literature.
About Dr Sisira Edirippulige
Dr Edirippulige’s main responsibilities at the COH involve teaching and coordinating undergraduate and postgraduate courses in e-Healthcare and clinical telehealth. With the conviction that training and education is a key component in promoting the use of e-health and telehealth, he has been involved in designing, and developing education and training for different groups of health professionals. Before joining the University of Queensland, he taught at Kobe Gakuin University in Japan and at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and has also worked in Russia, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.
