Survey on the Use of Digital Technologies by Health Care Providers (SUDTHCP)
Detailed information for 2024
Status:
Active
Frequency:
Annual
Record number:
5419
The Survey on the Use of Digital Technologies by Health Care Providers (SUDTHCP) collects data from health care providers on their use and knowledge of digital health systems.
Description
The Survey on the Use of Digital Technologies by Health Care Providers (SUDTHCP) collects data from health care providers on their use of digital health systems, including whether they send and receive patient clinical information electronically and barriers to using digital health tools. The SUDTHCP also collects information on health care providers' knowledge of digital health systems to measure their digital health literacy.
Results from this survey will be used to identify areas of improvement in modernizing the health care system and improving health care services for Canadians as set out in the Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians plan.
The information collected in this survey may be used by the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, other government organizations and researchers to inform the public on improvement of the modernization of the health care system with standardized information and digital tools.
Reference period: Previous calendar year
Subjects
- Health
- Health care services
- Labour
- Workplace organization, innovation, performance
Data sources and methodology
Target population
The target population for the SUDTHCP is all persons who are 18 years of age or older at the time of the survey, living in private residences in one of the ten provinces of Canada and having worked in the following occupations (occupation is defined according to the 2021 National Occupation Classification (NOC)) in Canada in 2024: General practitioners and family physicians (31102), Nurse practitioners (31302), Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (31100), Specialists in surgery (31101), Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses (31301), Nursing coordinators and supervisors (31300), Pharmacists (31120).
Instrument design
The content for the SUDTHCP electronic questionnaire was developed in consultation with the Canadian Institute for Health Information and experts in the field of digital technologies used by health care providers.
The questionnaire underwent cognitive testing through in-depth interviews in both of Canada's official languages, conducted by Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Centre.
Sampling
This is a sample survey with a stratified sample and cross-sectional design.
The frame for the SUDTHCP is a person-level frame based on respondents to the 2021 Census of Population long form and augmented by the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS).
Sampling Unit
The sampling units for the SUDTHCP are individuals selected randomly from the frame.
Stratification Method
The frame is stratified by province and by the professional occupations in health that are in scope. These occupations are derived based on the National Occupation Classification (NOC) 2021 or the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) 2021, depending on availability of information. A simple random sample of the in-scope health care workers is selected independently within each stratum.
Sampling and sub-sampling
The SUDTHCP sample has a one-stage design. People aged 18 years or older were randomly selected among Census 2021 long form respondents who either identified as working in one of the in scope professional occupations in health at the time of Census (based on NOC 2021) or who, according to the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS), were registered in a health care education program (based on CIP 2021) between 2020 and 2023 that was likely to lead to work in an in-scope occupation.
Minimum stratum sample sizes were determined to ensure certain estimates would have acceptable sampling variability at the stratum level, based on assumptions made regarding the survey data collection. The sample size of 17,000 units was allocated according to these stratum sample sizes. The overall sample is representative of all those working in one of the in scope professional occupations in health in the ten provinces who were health care workers at the time of Census 2021, or who, in recent years, were registered in education programs likely to yield workers in one of the in scope professional occupations in health.
Data sources
Data collection for this reference period: 2025-05-07 to 2025-07-27
Responding to this survey is voluntary.
Data is collected from survey respondents either through an electronic questionnaire (EQ) directly online or assisted by a Statistics Canada interviewer through CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing). A letter is mailed to the selected respondent, which contains a code that gives access to the online questionnaire.
A Statistics Canada interviewer may follow up by calling, emailing, or texting the respondent if a completed online questionnaire is not received within a certain period of time.
Proxy reporting (when a selected respondent is unable to answer for themselves) is not allowed.
The questionnaire is available in both official languages and can be completed by interview in either English or French.
View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .
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