Practice-Based Insights from Healthcare Professionals
The Future of Healthcare (FoH) project has reached an important milestone with the successful implementation of the first focus group session, organised by the Italian partner LABC srl. The session brought together six young neurosurgery professionals from four hospitals in Turin and Cuneo, creating a valuable opportunity to collect real-world perspectives on the integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare practice.
The focus group followed the common methodology developed within the FoH project to ensure consistency across all partner countries. Through a structured discussion guided by a shared question set and moderator guidelines, participants explored topics such as the current use of AI tools in healthcare, emerging competency needs, and the ethical and professional challenges associated with AI-supported clinical decision-making. These insights provide essential practice-based evidence that will directly contribute to shaping the FoH Framework, a competence-based guideline designed to support the ethical, effective, and human-centred use of AI in healthcare vocational education and training.
Participants also reflected on the importance of maintaining strong communication skills, professional responsibility, and patient relationships in an environment where AI tools increasingly support diagnostic and clinical processes. Such reflections highlight the critical balance between technological innovation and human expertise that the FoH project aims to promote.
Building the European Evidence Base for the FoH Framework
The focus groups represent a central step in the development of the FoH Framework, forming the empirical foundation of the project’s competence model. The qualitative insights gathered during these sessions help identify the technical, ethical, and relational competencies required for healthcare professionals to work effectively with AI-enabled tools in daily patient care.
Each partner organisation will conduct similar focus groups within their national contexts, engaging healthcare professionals, educators, and vocational learners. The collected results will then be consolidated and analysed at consortium level, allowing partners to identify recurring themes, competence gaps, and shared challenges across different European healthcare systems. This collaborative process ensures that the FoH Framework reflects diverse professional experiences and provides a practical reference for VET providers across Europe.
In the coming weeks, additional focus groups will take place in Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Türkiye, further strengthening the European dimension of the research and ensuring that the final framework is grounded in a broad range of healthcare contexts.
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The first FoH focus group, organised by LABC srl in Italy, brought together neurosurgery professionals from hospitals in Turin and Cuneo to discuss AI use in healthcare, competency needs, ethical challenges, and communication skills, generating valuable practice-based insights that will contribute to the development of the FoH Framework for ethical and human-centred AI in healthcare VET.
FoH Dissemination Team
Key Takeaways
• The first FoH focus group was successfully organised by LABC srl in Italy.
• Six neurosurgery professionals from four hospitals in Turin and Cuneo participated in the session.
• Discussions explored AI use in healthcare practice, competence gaps, and ethical challenges.
• Participants highlighted the importance of communication, professional responsibility, and human-centred care.
• Focus group findings will form a key evidence base for the FoH Framework development (WP2).
• Additional focus groups will follow in Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Türkiye, ensuring a strong European perspective for the framework.
