DiMe Expands Focus to Lead Digital Medicine Education and Training

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Jan 11, 2023, 06:00 ET

New Applied Digital Health Ethics Course Will Fill Unmet Need for Digital Medicine Community

BOSTON, Jan. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) launched its first individual course offering, "Applied Digital Health Ethics", a topic that is foundational to the industry. Digital health is expected to be a $549 billion dollar industry by the year 2030 and comprises individuals from fields ranging from medical, technology, cyber, research, patients, and caregivers.

The course is part of the new Digital Medicine Academy, which DiMe launched in August 2022 to unite digital health education and training under one umbrella. Applied Digital Health Ethics will address the fact that, to date, there is no universal language, policies, or understanding of the role of ethics in digital medicine. As the field embraces the digitization of healthcare to improve lives, novel ethical challenges are emerging and collectively, industry leaders have the opportunity to set the moral and ethical standards for what it means to care for people in the digital era of healthcare.

The course is based on the concept that ethical digital medicine is the intentional digitization of healthcare for the betterment of all individuals and systems while avoiding willful ignorance of harms.

"Everyone working in our field – from citizen scientists and cybersecurity experts, to data scientists and clinical scientists, alongside our payer and policy colleagues – will be faced with new, ethical challenges, and their decisions will determine whether and how digital medicine solutions are equitable solutions, said Jennifer Goldsack DiMe CEO. "Getting the industry aligned and trained correctly today is critical as digital medicine grows."

As the professional home for the digital medicine industry, DiMe is uniquely and effectively positioned to lead this effort. Since its inception, ethics has been core to DiMe's work and is positioned as the first of the four key focus areas of the organization's mission: to advance the ethical, effective, equitable, and safe use of digital medicine to redefine healthcare and improve lives. Its community is comprised of diverse experts spanning the digital medicine field and, therefore, ensures the lens through which DiMe develops these courses is practical for all digital medicine professionals.

'Applied Digital Health Ethics' is an online, self-directed course featuring a combination of DiMe experts and guest faculty including patient experts, applied ethicists from industry, and leading experts from academia.

Topics addressed include:

Introduction of why ethics are essential for a successful new field of digital health
How to safeguard data and information, why this is important, and unique challenges that exist in the digital era
Ethics and equity and how to ensure equal benefit and avoid disproportionate harm
Ethical design for new digital health products and programs
Ways the field can work to earn public trust in digital health

"Data and technology are powerful tools that can improve access to information, build community, and cure disease; however, without the right protections, data can violate privacy and cause real harm," said Andrea Downing, President & Co-Founder of the Light Collective. "To effectively work together to bolster the good parts of data sharing and protect from the bad, we need alignment on what ethical digital medicine looks like - and that's what's in this course."

Individuals who take the course will also gain access to the broader DiMe community, which will help them continue to grow their expertise, leadership, and network in digital health. Those who successfully complete will receive a certificate of completion and an official badge for their LinkedIn profile.

The Academy also features a digital health fundamentals course for pharmaceutical organizations looking to upskill their entire workforce for business success in the digital era. New courses will be announced in early 2023.

About the Digital Medicine Society: DiMe is a global non-profit and the professional home for all members of the digital medicine community. Together, we tackle the toughest digital medicine challenges, develop clinical-quality resources on a technology timeline, and deliver these actionable resources to the field via open-source channels and educational programs.

Media Contact: Carla English, [email protected]

SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)