As the European Health Data Space (EHDS) takes shape, interoperability is becoming an essential skill for all healthcare and digital-health professionals. That’s precisely where the XiA project comes in — to strengthen interoperability skills by developing new and practical learning formats.
In Berlin, at the heart of a week dedicated to interoperability — between the German Interoperability Days and the Hospitals on FHIR User Days — XiA launched its first Educathon: a new experiential learning format blending theory and practice to explore and experience interoperability in digital health. Designed as both a learning and testing ground, it introduced key concepts such as FHIR, Implementation Guides, and the European Health Data Space (EHDS) to a diverse group of professionals, validating XiA’s learner-centred, micro-content, and problem-based approach while gathering insights to shape future Educathons and the broader XiA educational framework.
What’s an Educathon?
At the crossroads of a hackathon, a connectathon, a workshop, and a training course, the XiA Educathon aims to accelerate capacity-building on interoperability and its key standards (FHIR, IHE, SNOMEDCT, LOINC…). Combining theoretical insights, hands-on exercises, and real-world EHDS use cases, the goal wasn’t to produce prototypes but to learn by sharing and experimenting — understanding how interoperability works in a practical, collaborative environment.
Participants included MBA students, pharma data professionals, insurers, and representatives from hospitals and industry, alongside experts from Fyrstain (XiA partner), HL7 Poland and HL7 Europe (associated partners), German and Italian hospital groups, and interoperability consultants.
Each contributed their own national perspective on the EHDS and a unique understanding of interoperability challenges, enriching the discussions with a truly European dimension.
In practice
Over two days, participants alternated microlearning sessions, coaching, debating and hands-on experimentation to move from “why” to “how”:
- Microlearning: FHIR basics, Implementation Guides (IGs), and the link between FHIR and medical terminologies (LOINC, SNOMEDCT)
- Experimentation: real-world use case (blood-panels – FHIR resources: Observation + Lab Report); creating and testing FHIR resources via Claude AI & HAPI servers; exchanging resources with Postman; and discussing the value of FHIR for research automation and cross-hospital data exchange
As participants understood, the EHDS is vast, and it is high time to prepare for it!
Lessons learned
The Educathon yielded key insights for future XiA activities:
- Learner-centred formats encourage engagement and knowledge retention.
- Micro-Content Learning Blocks (MCLBs) effectively support varied teaching modes — self-learning, lecturing, and interactive exercises.
- Real-world use cases help bridge the gap between theory and application, making the involvement of participants easier as they felt concerned about a health-related data exchange use case that proved concrete.
- Educathons foster interdisciplinary collaboration between IT specialists, clinicians, and administrators.
This pilot edition confirmed the relevance of the Educathon format in accelerating learning and building a shared understanding of the EHDS. The tools and training modules now being developed within XiA will feed into the next Educathons — see you in 2026!
🙏 Many thanks to all participants, coaches, and partners — and especially to the Fyrstain team for designing the training materials, tools, organisation and facilitation of this first Educathon!