The Increased use of digital technologies in contemporary work often brings about two kinds of changes. The first is how that work is undertaken, through specific kinds of information, procedures and activities associated with the specific occupation. The second is how these technologies have changed interactions amongst other workers, and those who are the target of the goods and services being provided when performing that work (e.g. patients, next of kin). Consequently, the level of competence in digital technologies are central to performing many forms of contemporary work (Billett, 2021). Healthcare is no exception here. Yet, given concerns about patient safety and care, the digital competence of healthcare workers becomes paramount for that work. Observations of practice within healthcare settings reveals the importance of that competence (Ajjawi et al., 2020). Whether it is engaging with the workstations on wheels that are taken and engaged with bedside through to the use of those technologies to engage with remote patients indicates not only the diversity of the use of these technologies but the distinctiveness of their specific use. This presentation goes beyond that kind of observational data and interviews, to analyse the recently released Program of International Assessment of Adult Competence (PIAAC) Second Cycle drawing on to healthcare workers’ data. These data are derived from one-on-one interviews with informants provides, on the one hand, data about the requirements for engaging with electronic technology in the work setting and through everyday practice, two on the other hand, providing a rich array of data about healthcare workers discretion, problem-solving and learning and how this is shaped through engagement with electronic technology. The purpose here is to describe and generate patterns of responses across these two facets of healthcare work requirements, on the one hand, and measures of engagement and use of those technologies. The PIAAC data from Switzerland, available for the first time, will be compared with other countries, not to make judgements about comparative performance, but to capture variations in what is afforded healthcare workers in and through their work, how they come to engage with those tasks, and the kinds of competencies they report possessing. In this way qualitative accounts of healthcare work can be augmented and extended through accessing and utilising these quantitative data.

Ajjawi, R., Hilder, J., Noble, C., Teodorczuk, A., & Billett, S. (2020). Using video‐reflexive ethnography to understand complexity and change practice. Medical Education. Billett, S. (2021). Mediating worklife learning and the digitalization of work. British Journal of Educational Technology 52, 1580-1593.