LAB RDI Journal

Upskilling social and health care professionals to innovate digital solutions for Wellbeing Services Counties in Finland

Since the reform of the Wellbeing Services Counties in Finland in 2023, the primary goals have been to ensure equal access to services, reduce inequalities, and manage the rising costs of service provision. Achieving these goals requires competencies, such as multiprofessional teamwork, utilization of technological solutions, service system expertise, and advanced problem-solving skills. A specialization education programme was developed collaboratively by 14 Finnish universities of applied sciences to support Counties’ needs. This qualitative study explores the digital solutions the participants in the programme developed. They applied service design methods in their development projects, resulting in concrete, digital-related solutions tailored to organizational needs. The findings indicate that the specialization training effectively promoted digitalization objectives and contributed new competencies and meaningful innovations to the social and healthcare sector.