If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve probably encountered posts that emphasized the broad range of potential applications for online information technology training and associated programs offered by Canvas InfoTech. It remains an important point, given the ongoing and often rapidly escalating integration of information technology resources into fields as diverse as manufacturing, business management, service professions, and medicine.

That latter field has spawned an entirely new sub-field known as telehealth and telemedicine. But as a result of medical professionals’ lack of access to or interest in online information technology training, that field is having a difficult time acquiring the workforce it needs to improve medical practice in general.

This was the focus of an article published in early May by mHealth Intelligence. It began by referencing the recent American Telemedicine Conference in Orlando and pointing out that attendees confirmed: “one of the biggest challenges to launching a telehealth network is finding qualified staff.”

The article goes on to say that the health sector is seeking to address this problem, starting with the launch of the National Academic Center for Telehealth at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University. The institution hopes to attract enough students to bolster existing telehealth programs without placing additional strain on existing and often inadequate training programs inside American health systems.

But it is interesting to think how much less strain those programs might be experiencing if more of their incoming staff had some sort of background in online information technology training, which they could draw upon in order to adapt to the new demands of a tech-rich industry. It is a lot to expect of employees to effectively train themselves for those demands. But it is also a lot to expect of institutions to implement training programs that build relevant skills from the ground up. What might be much more achievable, however, is a situation in which employees and employers meet each other halfway.

This applies to other industries apart from medicine. As the needs of the workplace change, it will be more and more important for employees to seek out the know-how to adapt to technical requirements and for employers to facilitate that professional development. Online information technology training has the potential to address the problem from the employee’s standpoint, thereby making him or her a more attractive prospect to potential employers that want to adapt their workers to a tech-rich workplace very quickly.

Industry-specific training programs are gradually emerging to address the situation on neutral ground. But for the time being, the National Academic Center for Telehealth appears to be unique in its field, meaning that some industry professionals will have to do much of the legwork on their own. And even once these sorts of training centers become more prevalent, little will change for low-level employees. A background in online information technology training will still make those employees more readily capable of picking up on industry-specific IT instruction, as well as adapting to IT-related policies and procedures that are becoming ever more commonplace throughout the American workforce.