Hospital staff train for computer "driving licence

Citation

(2003), "Hospital staff train for computer "driving licence", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 35 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2003.03735aab.005

Hospital staff train for computer "driving licence"

Hospital staff train for computer "driving licence"

Whipps Cross University Hospital, north London, has become a technology-training test centre which will train its entire staff in a range of information-technology skills, leading to the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) qualification.

As no prior knowledge of IT is needed, ECDL is seen as particularly suitable for those who wish to gain an introductory qualification in computing. It can help them to embrace new technology and systems within their current job or to enhance their career prospects.

Pete Bayley, director of ECDL UK, commented: "Test-centre status means that Whipps Cross Hospital is now able to support its staff-development programme of computer use. This programme will be crucial to supporting patient services in the future. Patient and staff records will become more automated and accessible, so it will be vital for staff working in the service to have adequate skills at dealing with electronic information."

Robert Shipman, trust leader for education and training, commented: "We are one of around 120 trusts in Britain to gain test-centre status, and this puts us at the forefront of IT education and training for health-service staff in line with the government's proposed IT investment programme for the public-health sector.

"The ECDL qualification will be the backbone of all future education and training initiatives in the modern health service, providing staff with the skills needed to go into a paperless hospital. The ECDL will improve patient care and patient access to information, so they will become better informed."

More than half a million Britons have registered for the ECDL computer-skills qualification and the British Computer Society (BCS) is currently issuing more than 1,000 computer driving licence certificates to successful students every day.

David Clarke, BCS chief executive, said: "More than half of UK workers are now expected to operate a computer as part of their job, yet less than 10 per cent have received any formal training or can offer prospective employers a qualification as hard proof of their computing proficiency.

"British business is becoming reliant on a new generation of low-cost but very powerful computing systems, so under-trained operatives can seriously undermine a company's drive for greater efficiency, or make costly mistakes. More employers are now insisting on a formal computing qualification from prospective employees. That is why the European Computer Driving Licence is taking off in such a big way."

Meanwhile, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has chosen e-learning specialist Electric Paper as an automated testing provider for the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) in the Arab region. ICDL is the name adopted for the EDCL outside Europe.

Electric Paper's AutoTest enables organizations to test and deliver results automatically for IT-literacy students, eliminating the need for offline correction and reducing both human error and the time traditionally required for this purpose.

The company is working with Unesco's Cairo office, the regional office for science and technology in the Arab states, to implement AutoTest in both English and Arabic.

Jonny Parkes, Electric Paper managing director, said: "The demand for basic IT-literacy skills across the Middle East is growing rapidly and is similar to the position that Ireland and the UK were in three or four years ago."

Some 1.7 million people around the world are currently studying for the ECDL/ICDL qualification.