Educational preference profiles for hybrid healthcare: A multinational cluster analysis of digital practice
Petra Petrová, Marek Neuberg, Mariusz Jaworski, Thomas Spittler, Radu George Ciorap, Zuzana DvořákováBackground
The expansion of digitally supported and hybrid healthcare has revealed substantial variability in workforce preparedness. Most research has adopted variable-centred approaches and has rarely identified educational preference profiles aligned with observable digital practice.
Objective
To identify distinct hybrid healthcare–related educational preference profiles across multiple European contexts and examine their associations with digital tool use, work context, and perceived competence.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey of 406 respondents working in healthcare, health professions education, or healthcare administration was conducted in four languages (Czech, Polish, Romanian, German). Educational preferences (Q18) were recoded into binary indicators and analysed by k-means cluster analysis. Cluster membership was then examined using univariable χ2 tests and a multivariate CHAID decision tree, from which the clustering variables were excluded to avoid circularity.
Results
Three educational preference profiles emerged: a selective educational preference profile, with preferences concentrated in a limited number of domains (59.1%), an EHR-focused educational preference profile, centred on advanced electronic health record use (27.6%), and a broad educational preference profile, with preferences spanning governance, ethics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and hybrid service implementation (13.3%). Cluster membership was almost fully reproduced by the number of domains selected and advanced EHR selection (98.5% agreement). In unadjusted univariable analyses, cluster membership was associated with digital practice variables, although none remained significant after correction for multiple testing. Gender, age and length of professional practice did not meet the prespecified univariable screening criterion and were therefore not entered into the CHAID model. Among the candidate predictors entered into CHAID, the retained splits were based on digital tool use, specifically online patient education platforms, digital communication tools, and electronic health records.
Conclusions
Educational preferences related to hybrid healthcare could be summarised as three exploratory profiles that differed mainly in the breadth of preferences and in a specific preference for EHR-related education. A tentative association between broader educational preferences and the use of online patient education platforms was based on a small subgroup and requires confirmation in independent samples.