Author: Dr Richard Vance, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Psychology and Assisting Living & Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University
Dr Richard Vance
“I fear the day when technology overlaps our humanity” goes a quote, which is dubiously attributed to Albert Einstein on the internet—sometimes you can trust technology, sometimes you can’t.
Last week was Social Justice Week in Maynooth, and it’s as good a time as any to reflect on whether we’re making a positive difference to the lives of others and the world around us. I want to look at how we’re approaching the design and provision of digital health technologies for older adults to promote health and well-being and reduce inequality.
Authors: David Prendergast: Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Trevor Vaugh: PI at Mi:Lab, The Maynooth Innovation Lab and Assistant Professor in Department of Design Innovation, Linzi Ryan: Assistant Professor in Department of Design Innovation, Mac Maclachlan: Professor of Psychology and Social Inclusion, and Co-director of the ALL Institute
CS6024 Digital Health and Wellbeing in the community. MSc in Digital Health Transformation.
On Wednesday 4th September 2019, the inaugural Health Service Executive ‘Digital Academy Forum’ was held at Dr Steeven’s Hospital in Dublin. During this meeting, Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer for the HSE announced plans for an ambitious and experimental Masters in Digital Health Transformation to help build digital skills and train future leaders in health service innovation. Co-designed between the HSE and several Irish Universities, including Maynooth, Limerick, UCD, DCU NUI Galway and University College Cork, the new degree runs over 18 months and is open to HSE employees and the General Public.
In the first semester of the degree, students completed five modules on topics ranging from eHealth Systems and Standards, Health Information Modelling and Governance, Research Methods and Digital Health Service Transformation. In the second semester, topics such as Digital Health Change Management, Clinical Decision-Making, Data Science and AI in Healthcare were covered, along with a design innovation module on Digital Health and Wellbeing in the Community run by the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute at Maynooth University. Building on these modules, students were expected to work on a substantial project designing, developing and deploying a digital solution within the Irish Healthcare system.
