Developing a Training Program for Healthcare Data Professionals in South Korea: A Needs Analysis

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate practitioners' demands regarding curriculum programs and to suggest directions for future program development aimed at training healthcare data professionals. METHODS: An online survey was conducted among 67 healthcare data practitioners who voluntarily participated in a training program designed to foster specialized professionals in healthcare data utilization on October 25, 2024. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 27.0. RESULTS: The most common data-related issue encountered by practitioners was concern regarding security and privacy protection, which was reported by 49.3% of participants. With respect to areas requiring improvement in job roles, 34.3% of respondents identified healthcare data analysis and utilization as the most critical domain. Practitioners emphasized the importance of governance-related competencies, and there was a strong demand for education in research ethics and data review processes. In addition, statistically significant differences were observed among groups with respect to the levels of education required. CONCLUSIONS: Training programs designed to encourage professionals to utilize healthcare data should be structured as practice-oriented, hands-on programs that integrate both theoretical instruction and practical training. Furthermore, advanced education related to institutional review boards and data review boards should be incorporated as a core component of the curriculum. Finally, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive and detailed interdisciplinary educational program grounded in the five core competencies.