Summer School: New Ways of Working in Health and Care

Who should attend: The Summer School will focus on the theme from an academic perspective and will include an editors' panel and a research clinic to help with paper development and research ideas [1 Day]. It will also focus on conducting impactful research and looking at how academic research can make a positive difference in real-world problems [1 Day]. Please note that attendance at the Summer School is free of charge.

Theme: Change in work within health and care can be categorised into three main themes; new trends in the delivery of health and care, evolving intersections of work and health and care,  and  structural  shifts  in  health  and  care.  To  elaborate,  there  are new  work arrangements  such  as  remote  working  (Sims  et  al.,  2022),  the  rapid  adoption  of telehealth since COVID-19 (Andrews et al., 2020), increased delivery of service within communities (Kopelovich et al., 2021) also potentially leading to the emergence of new professions and roles (Bauer & Bodenheimer, 2017). Moreover, there are also shifts in governance  and  regulatory  structures  impacting  funding  (Appelbaum  &  Batt,  2020; Berwick  &  Hackbarth,  2012;  Bruch  et  al.,  2021) coupled  with  challenges  and opportunities by the planning and implementation of technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence within health and care (Jiang et al., 2017; Topol, 2019; Ventola, 2014; Yang et al., 2017).

All of these changes carry significant implications for professionals, organisations, and the overall delivery of health and care. These implications might bring challenges such as resistance from established professionals and regulatory bodies (Dower et al., 2013), potential  job  displacements  for  professionals  (Davenport  &  Kalakota,  2019),  ethical concerns in relation to artificial intelligence (Obermeyer & Emanuel, 2016), need for re-training  professionals  with  new  technologies  (Paranjape  et  al.,  2019),  difficulties  in managing remote teams (Sims et al., 2022), and managing quality of service delivery in virtual settings (Shigekawa et al., 2018). However, at the same time, these also generate opportunities such as increased interdisciplinary collaborations and more community-based services (Frenk et al., 2010), increased access to care via remote consultations and cost savings for organisations (Haleem et al., 2021; Smith & Gray, 2009; Whitten & Love,  2005),  enhanced  diagnostic  accuracies  and  potentially  reduced  administrative burden (Alowais et al., 2023; Reddy et al., 2019; Topol, 2019).

To apply:  Warwick ECR Summer School 2025