Ensuring high-quality nursing and health care is and will be a major challenge in the face of demographic change and the growing shortage of skilled workers. Digital solutions, or so-called "e-health" approaches, are intended to support healthcare workers, e.g. by providing more transparent communication channels and giving patients and relatives the opportunity to better participate in their own healthcare. While there is already a wide range of e-health solutions, many of these solutions are under-utilized due to the lack of digital skills among healthcare workers. For these solutions to work in all sectors and in a multidisciplinary environment, professionals need adequate digital skills.

The objective of the EU-funded project ERASMUS + "Digital & Innovation Skills Helix in Health" (DISH) is to examine current and future skills needs in order to successfully advance the necessary digitization in this sector Concepts are developed, tested and presented to provide the necessary digital skills for professionals to better assess how and where e-health solutions should be used.

The project also aims to provide real solutions to everyday situations. As a result, training is being developed as an "on-the-job training concept" in practice, where simulation in a safe and less stressful environment is an important aspect. In each country at least 100 skilled workers are involved in a so-called learning innovation unit and trained in the test phase to test their usability. Each participant will receive a confirmation of participation with an evaluation and recognition of their acquired skills and competences.

The overarching objective of the project is to contribute to the implementation of the EU 2020 strategy and to the main objectives of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging (EIP on AHA) with a view to developing skills and capabilities job creation. The project contributes to the "Agenda for New Skills and Jobs" and provides future and current health professionals with the skills needed to address the challenges in this sector.

DISH is a Pan-European Sector Skills Alliance project, led by the Southern Denmark Region (Hospital South Jutland), bringing together a total of 19 organizations from Denmark, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Poland and Germany. The project will run until October 2021.

As an additional project partner, the "DISH project" will work together with nursing research at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck (UKSH).