Executive summary

This reports primary aim is to inform the development of education and training to develop healthcare workers’ confidence in artificial intelligence (AI).

This research is a collaboration between the NHS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab and Health Education England. Its primary aim is to inform the development of education and training to develop healthcare workers’ confidence in AI.

The research follows the Topol Review (2019) recommendation to develop a healthcare workforce able and willing to use AI and robotics, and is part of Health Education England’s Digital, AI and Robotics Technologies in Education (DART-Ed) programme to understand the impact of advances of these technologies on the workforce’s education and training requirements. Supporting healthcare workers to feel confident in identifying when and how to use AI is a main objective of the NHS AI Lab, and a key component of its vision for the safe, effective, and ethical adoption of AI technologies across health and care.

This is the second of 2 reports in relation to this research.

The first report outlined a conceptual framework for understanding what influences confidence in AI among healthcare workers.

This second report:

• identifies archetypes within the workforce based on AI-related roles and responsibilities
• determines educational and training needs based on these archetypes and the findings and conceptual framework of the first report
• presents suggested pathways to develop related education and training offerings

Audiences for this report

At a strategic level, the report can inform how Health Education England, educational and training providers and educators of healthcare workers plan, resource, develop and deliver educational offerings to equip the workforce with necessary knowledge, skills and capabilities.

Educational and training providers include (but are not limited to):

• the NHS Digital Academy
• Medical schools and other healthcare undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
• Council of Deans
• National Association of Clinical Tutors
• Royal Societies and colleges
• other private and voluntary sector providers

More specifically, the report can assist these entities and individuals to develop specific curricula and content for their educational and training offerings through the areas of knowledge, skills and capabilities listed in Chapter 3 and Appendix A.

The research involved a review of academic literature and semi-structured interviews exploring experiences of developing and using AI technologies in healthcare settings. Interviewees included healthcare workers in primary and hospital care settings; industry innovators; representatives of related regulatory and arm’s length bodies; and academics who work at the intersection of AI, healthcare, education and clinical confidence.