Learning based on challenges in the context of multidisciplinary teamwork in ehealth: an evaluation of the students' experience

Education in eHealth is becoming of transcendental importance in the European social context. The progressive aging of the population has generated an increase in the prevalence of people with disabilities who demand more effective, adapted and flexible services. Advances in computer science and technology are enabling a qualitative leap in the care of these people, offering solutions to health demands. However, the incorporation of technology in the field of health requires the acquisition of new skills. The eHealth Eurocampus is an EU-funded Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership, whose primary aim is to support the development of innovative teaching materials and activities that will improve the relevance and quality of higher education in the field of eHealth. A total of 10 European institutions participate in the project, including universities, hospitals and technology companies. We present the results corresponding to the third edition of the summer school that took place in Barcelona during the month of July 2019. On this occasion, the main topic was the use of robotics and medical imaging for the treatment of physical and cognitive disability. A teaching methodology based on the presentation of challenges was used and for which the different groups had to work and give a technological solution. The challenges were proposed by real patients and healthcare professionals who, from their experience, presented a problem of their daily life: they went from issues related to the mobility of people with physical disabilities to the usability of medical devices in hospital settings. The students were organized in multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams, and they had to develop their prototypes to respond to the proposed challenge. The resulting projects were presented publicly to the patients and professionals themselves for further discussion. The results presented refer to the perceptions of participating students about the effectiveness of this methodology in the training of skills and competences for multidisciplinary work. In general, the adequacy of the methodology for the described objective is verified. Students highlight the importance of soft skills training in this type of context. Communication has appeared as the most important competence. Some students have mentioned that one of the great challenges encountered was to understand each other among the different backgrounds. However, they consider that the effort involved in having to reason their positions with understandable terms for all team members has improved their communication and conflict resolution skills. Another of the strengths that stand out in the results is the fact that the project was raised from real cases. However, the students identify as an aspect of improvement a greater interaction with the people who propose the challenges to validate the proposed solution during the development process of the project, and not only at the end. In conclusion, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of experiences of this type in the training of skills necessary for work in the context of digital health. It is important to incorporate initiatives of this type in the current university degrees for greater adaptation of training to the needs and demands of the social and professional context.Peer Reviewe