TRANSiTION – Training Opportunity in Digital Health: Interview with Andreas Charalambous

OncoDaily Talks gathers people worldwide to discuss challenges in cancer care. We share creative solutions and insights from top professionals.

Today our guest is Andreas Charalambous, a professor in Oncology and Palliative Nursing Care at Cyprus University of Technology, hosted by Elen Baloyan, MD, the managing editor of OncoDaily. They discuss the “TRANSiTION” project, an EU co-funded initiative designed to enhance digital skills among healthcare professionals.

Andreas Charalambous is the Chair of Department of Nursing at the Cyprus University of Technology and serves as an Adjunct Professor (Docent) at the University of Turku, Finland. He has founded prominent organizations including the Cyprus Oncology Nursing Society and the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS). He also served as the immediate Past President of the European Cancer Organisation. Prof. Charalambous is the founder of the Cancer Nursing Fund and the European Cancer Community Foundation, which serve as pillars in supporting cancer research and care initiatives.

00:00 Introduction
01:16 Overview of TRANSiTION Project
03:10 Why is it crucial to enhance digital skills among healthcare professionals?
06:40 Who can apply for TRANSiTION program
10:32 How much time is needed for the program?
13:17 Who are the key contributors to the curriculum and what expertise do they bring?
16:53 What kind of recognition is given at the end?
18:16 What is the future of digital care, and how will initiatives like Transition shape it?

Elen Baloyan: Hi there and welcome to OncoDaily Talks. I am Elen, the Managing Editor of OncoDaily and it is my pleasure to host today Professor Andreas Karelambas, a Professor in Oncology and Palliative Nursing Care at the Cyprus University of Technology and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Turku, Finland for a transformational conversation on digital healthcare. Hi Professor Karelambas and thanks for being here today.

Andreas Charalambous: Hi Elen, hi everyone to our audience. It’s a pleasure to be with you and of course it’s a pleasure to be able to present this innovative project on digital skills. Thank you.

Elen Baloyan: Thank you as well. For those who don’t already know, Professor Karelambas is the Founder and the Past President of the Cyprus Oncology Nursing Society, the Past President of the European Oncology Nursing Society and the Immediate Past President of the European Cancer Organization.

Today he will be introducing us a project called Transition.
So Professor Karelambas, without further ado, I would like to ask you the first question. Can you start by giving us an overview of the Transition project and what is this and what are the main objectives of it?

Andreas Charalambous: Thank you so much for the question. The project Transition is an EU-funded project. It was funded with 2.3 million and the aim of the project is to train healthcare professionals on digital skills but also healthcare managers, which are both heavily involved in cancer care at different parts of the cancer continuum.

When it comes to the Transition project, it brings together 25 partners from 14 member states and these partners bring to the consortium different kinds of expertise. So, for example, we do have universities, we have cancer centers, we have patient associations and so on. So we try to bring together an expertise that complements each other so that a very high level education on digital skills can be produced.

And the project is planned to end in August 2025. The project started back in March 2023. So it is a 2.5 year project. And at this point, we are running at WorkPackage 5, which is the actual training, piloting of the training.

Elen Baloyan: Thanks, that sounds quite a rich program. Why is enhancing digital competencies among healthcare professionals so crucial and how does Transition aim to achieve this?

Andreas Charalambous: That’s a very good question. As part of not only the EU Beating Cancer Plan, but also as part of the mission of the European Commission, is digital transformation within healthcare, but also life in general. So the healthcare sector needs to be ready in order to be able to fully comprehend and fully integrate the many technological innovations that are taking place at the moment, or they have taken place already.

So what we have realized from many reports, many studies so far that preceded the project transition, is that healthcare professionals are considered ill-prepared or not prepared at all in order to fully grasp the full potential of these technological solutions. So, for example, when you don’t have the manpower to put in place the best innovation in the world, it won’t work. So we thought and we designed the project in such a way in order to be able to develop digital skills, but also to upskill those who already have some kind of digital level skills in healthcare.

And when we refer to healthcare, we are referring to all the cancer continuum, from prevention to cure, survivorship, and end-of-life care. So from our point of view, it’s critical for healthcare professionals and health managers to possess these kind of digital skills in order to be able to provide the care that it’s promised to the European citizens, not only for now, but the years to come as well. And from a research point of view, we can definitely anticipate the fact that technological solutions will infiltrate the lives of European citizens and on a global scale much more.

And we have all experienced recently the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the pace of all these digital solutions being introduced in healthcare. So we do need to take measures today in order to prepare the cancer workforce in a better way.

Elen Baloyan: Yes, and it takes everyone to do their step in achieving this. So the program targets a wide range of professionals from oncology nurses to health managers, and as I understand, not just oncology. So do applicants need to have certain backgrounds to join the program, or in simpler terms, who can apply?

Andreas Charalambous: Well, thank you for that question. Indeed, the transition program is a very personalized one in terms that we have taken into consideration the views of relevant stakeholders and potential end users. So the transition project offers different paths in order to complete the digital skills training.

So, for example, as you very well described, you don’t have to be an oncology professional to do the training. It is enough if you come in contact with cancer patients at any point of the cancer continuum to be able to do the training. And in terms of the training, we have identified disciplines or professions such as oncology nurses, medical oncologists, psychologists, surgical oncologists, radiotherapists, and so on, that could benefit from this training.

And one other interesting point that transition brings is that it’s nurturing the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to training. So one of the modules that it offers, it’s a combined module that brings all these health care professionals from different backgrounds together.

So that not only in theory, but also in practice, when they learn about these digital skills, they don’t learn them in a social vacuum, but they do acquire the knowledge, the competence and the skills within a multidisciplinary setting.

Elen Baloyan: Well, so as I understand, there are modules and are all those modules necessary for everyone or some people can take some modules and others can take others?

Andreas Charalambous: Absolutely, yes. Not all the modules are relevant to all the participants. So the participant will have the option, depending on his or her background, to follow a specific path during the training.

So, for example, there’s a different path for oncology nurses, there’s a different path for medical oncologists and so on. So depending on the specialty and the desire of the end user, the pathway will adjust to his or her needs and preferences. Of course, there is some modules which are compulsory for everyone so that all the necessary credits are earned so that certification can be delivered at the end of the training.

And if I may add here one aspect of who can join the training, I have to clarify here that you don’t need to have any kind of previous training when it comes to digital skills. We have designed the project in such a way so every kind of user from novice to expert can do the training.

The only thing that you need is access to the Internet and that’s it. That’s the only requirement that you need to have for joining and taking the course.

Elen Baloyan: So if I want to join as a trainee or a trainer, what will we be discussing and how much time will be required for me to dedicate for the programme for each option?

Andreas Charalambous: Okay, in terms of the trainer, we have introduced a very different approach to what people might have in mind. So these trainers will not be actually doing the training themselves because from the extensive mapping of the literature, the mapping of digital skills in these 14 member states, UX design workshops and many other data resources, we have come to the conclusion that for this kind of training, the training time needs to be self-directed.

So in real life, you will not need a trainer to train you how to take the transition digital skills curriculum.
The trainers will be prepared for sustainability reasons when the transition project ends in August 2025 because the vision is for transition not to end there, but to have people in place who can facilitate new healthcare professionals, new healthcare managers who want to do this training beyond the lifespan of transition.

So we are working very proactively here to prepare these people to be in place in different European countries and globally in order to take this role. Coming back to your question, what is the requirement for someone to become a trainee or what is the amount of time it’s needed?

The training does not go beyond 10 hours. It’s a very highly specific program and it is designed in order to be able to support and guide trainees through digital platforms and doing the actual training.

These people have the same criteria as a trainee, so they can be working in clinical practice, they can be healthcare professionals from a wide background, they can be health managers and so on.
So it’s basically for everyone who comes in contact with cancer patients.

Elen Baloyan: The program sounds really extensive and time consuming to arrange. So I want to ask who are the key contributors in designing the curriculum and what expertise did they bring to the table?

Andreas Charalambous: Well, I can tell you that it took a long time to develop the program. So I did mention in the beginning that the consortium brings together a very wide array of expertise. So we do have universities, we do have cancer centers, we have patients associations, we have expertise in designing digital innovations, we do have experts in gamification, immersive reality and serious gaming.

For example, to be able to make the trainee much more attractive to the trainer or the trainee. But also in terms of people who contributed, I also mentioned that we did an extensive mapping of different training programs in these 14 member states. And we did identify through key experts in those countries what those programs were and where the gaps were in terms of training someone to acquire digital skills within oncology.

We also did extensive UX design workshops with patients, patient advocates, healthcare professionals and health managers in order to grasp their preferences, wants and in order to be able to make the program much more relevant. Although the transition trainee is not addressed to patients or patient advocates, in most cases, we do see that healthcare professionals, they do handle digital solutions that are directed to patients and patients advocates.

So from our point of view, from the project point of view, we consider that their view was essential to be reflected in any kind of training that we have undertaken.

And of course, as part of these workshops, we also had eDelphi surveys, which also collected different perspectives and points of view in order to have a better grasp of what needs to be included in the training. So it was an extensive piece of work that brought everyone who is involved or should have been involved in this training together and in order to be able to formulize a training program that is for the now and for the next day as well.

Elen Baloyan: So Professor Chalambas, say we complete everything, we go through this training, how do we graduate? Is there an exam or what kind of acknowledgement there is at the end when we finish the program?

Andreas Charalambous: Absolutely. Of course, as I mentioned, the program is self-directed, but within the program, there is a self-assessment. So before being able to finalize a program, you need to take the exam.
The exam is, of course, reflecting the content of the training. And once someone completes successfully the exam, then the system will provide the corresponding certification to him or her, depending on successful completion.

So the program, the training, I forgot to mention this and it’s crucial, it’s provided free of charge to everyone, but it’s also accredited.
So it’s going to be accredited by the European Cancer Organization, participants will be provided with CMEs and oncology nurses will be provided with corresponding credits from another organization.

Elen Baloyan: Thank you. Looking ahead, what are your thoughts on the future of digital care and how do you see the initiatives like transition shaping that future? Because for now, these days, it seems like we’re really slow in digitalizing the health care system.

Andreas Charalambous: Well, thank you so much for this question. It’s a very relevant question. I do think we are a bit slower than we should have been, but it’s not easy to understand the necessity of being well prepared for the present and the future.

We see immersive and innovative technologies infiltrating health care every day, whether those are artificial intelligence, machine learning, even robots in health care. But we do need the health care professional or the health care workforce in general to be better and well prepared in order to be able to work with these innovations. And the most important thing is integrating those innovations within the existing clinical pathways.

So we shouldn’t be viewing digital innovations or digital technology as something that is on top of our work. Those technologies need to be part of our work, so we need a successful integration. And that successful integration comes from training, such as the training provided by the transition project.

And the transition project cannot be the first or the last in this line of training. We do need to have this lifelong and ongoing training for our workforce, because with technologies changing, updating and developing new ones, your knowledge needs to be able to keep up with those developments in order to be able for you, for me, to be able to function efficiently and effectively in this digitized environment.

And if I may add here, in the European context, for example, much steps have been taken on a policy level in order to better prepare the regulatory for the European Cancer Imaging Initiative.

Okay, so I was just saying that we also have the European Cancer Imaging Initiative, which invites cancer centers from all over Europe to donate digital images in order to be able to push research in this field and be able to understand cancer at the more early stages.

So, all these regulatory changes, they are here to stay and they’re here to define the framework of how cancer care and care in general will be practiced in the years to come. So, yes, training, preparation and making people much more digitally literate is a necessity and not a luxury.

Elen Baloyan: Yes, and thank you, because this is a great opportunity. It’s free for everyone who wants to join. And at some point, we’re going to have to take this training because everything is moving forward with digital health assistance to healthcare professionals.

And thank you for providing this opportunity worldwide for anyone who wants to join to have the opportunity to do so. And thanks again for today’s interview. I think it was very informative.
And I hope that your program will really be successful, which I’m sure it will be. And I hope we can catch up with the results.

Andreas Charalambous: Thank you so much for the invitation. I will be happy to update your audience in any other developments within the digital space that we are all living in. Thank you. Thank you so much.

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