Training the caregiver of the future: Why AI literacy must be built from the ground up

Home-based care is now a critical part of how health services are delivered in India, increasingly taking on a larger share of the country’s health burden. After discharge, nurses, attendants, and aides manage vital signs, medication, and early intervention, often with little support beyond their training.

Digital tools are becoming part of this workflow, but without proper guidance, they often complicate more than they help. What is meant to assist ends up adding pressure.

India’s healthtech market is expected to grow from $5 billion in 2022 to $50 billion by 2033. Around 4% of the population is hospitalised each year, and post-discharge care is rising. Yet, over 85% of caregivers have no formal exposure to digital systems.

Most still rely on handwritten notes and basic coordination. India’s 3 million nurses and 500,000 home care workers, largely under 30 years, are ready to adapt. What they need is structured, hands-on training.

This is not a digital gap. It is a design flaw. Fixing it is key to making care more consistent, more connected, and more scalable.

Technology without training does not improve care

Every year, millions of people in India are discharged from hospitals and continue their recovery at home. Their caregivers are expected to monitor the condition, give medicines, update doctors, and spot signs when something seems off. These are precisely the moments where tech can help, especially with AI-enabled tools like remote vitals monitoring, symptom checkers, fall detection, and predictive alerts, but only if the caregiver is confident using it.

Instead, most of them are dealing with a mix of handwritten notes, daily phone calls, and unfamiliar apps. A lot of time is spent managing logistics, which creates stress and affects how care is delivered. When a caregiver does not fully understand how a system works, or worse, feels uncertain about trusting it, tech can slow things down instead of helping.

There is also fear. Some caregivers quietly wonder if machines might take their place one day. Over 85% of frontline caregivers (nurses, attendants) currently lack formal exposure to AI or digital tools. The concern is real, and it influences how open they are to learning new tools.

India’s homecare workforce needs structured support

India has a large and growing care workforce, including millions of nurses and thousands of trained home health aides. They are quick to adapt, but they need the right exposure.

Currently, digital health is not part of most formal medical or nursing training. There is no formal inclusion of digital health or AI fundamentals in current training curricula, and even the most basic tools, like smart vitals trackers or remote alerts, are often introduced on the job with little or no instruction.

This reflects a system that never planned for this transition properly. Someone who has spent years learning how to care for patients should not have to figure out an app through trial and error. And they certainly should not be blamed when a system does not deliver results. If we want to use technology well, we need to set up the people who use it to succeed.

What can be done now

We do not need more apps right now. We need to make the ones we already have work better for the people using them. Here are three practical actions that can help.

First, short-term training programmes focused on in-home care should be widely available. Micro-certification modules for AI basics, especially tailored for nurses, physiotherapists, and attendants, can create immediate readiness. These should be built around what caregivers do every day, not around tech company presentations. Whether it is entering vitals or responding to alerts, training must feel real, useful, and easy to apply.

Second, digital basics should be part of existing nursing and paramedical education. It is about knowing what a smart report means or how to use a connected device. Industry-academia partnerships to embed AI literacy in paramedical and nursing courses are needed. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has already developed frameworks that can expedite reach and adoption.

Third, tech builders and healthcare providers should run small pilots in real-world settings. Let caregivers see the benefit for themselves. On-ground pilots by home healthcare and healthtech providers can demonstrate the real-world impact of AI-integrated workflows. When a nurse realises a device saves her time or makes her report more accurate, she will use it, without needing persuasion.

India has a strategic advantage

India’s healthcare workforce is young. The average nurse in India is around 28 years old. This age advantage brings flexibility and learning potential—both essential for adapting to new systems. With the right training, Indian caregivers can serve not just domestic needs but also the growing global demand for tech-enabled care services.

With the right skilling, India could become a global hub for AI-integrated caregiving talent, exporting not just care but smart care. Countries facing workforce shortages and ageing populations are already looking to India as a talent hub. Skilled caregivers who understand both patient care and AI-assisted systems represent a new kind of export potential, not just labour, but value-added healthcare delivery.

However, this opportunity can only be taken advantage of if caregivers are trained with intention and clarity. Skilling caregivers in AI is the next chapter of digital health transformation at scale.

What healthtech builders must consider

Any healthtech product that depends on caregiver interaction must invest in user training. An alert ignored or a dashboard misunderstood adds no value to the care process. If your product is for bedside use or remote monitoring, training the caregiver should be your go-to-market strategy. Not an afterthought.

Caregivers at home often operate in isolation, spending around 30–40% of their shift time on non-clinical tasks like documentation and care coordination, which adds to stress. About 55% of Indian nurses report burnout, and AI used wisely can reduce this burden, not add to it.

The success of digital payments in India did not rest on infrastructure alone. Just as UPI needed merchant literacy, AI tools in home care need caregiver upskilling for last-mile effectiveness. Small business owners were taught how to use QR codes, manage digital ledgers, and build trust with users. A similar effort is needed in healthcare.

The way forward

Technology will continue to play a role in care, but the outcome still depends on the person standing next to the patient—who notices the small changes, responds to a late-night call, or quietly adjusts a plan based on how someone’s feeling.

We keep talking about digital transformation, but real care is still delivered by people. If we want better health outcomes at scale, we have to start by supporting those people. That means listening to what they need, teaching them what they are expected to use, and building systems that include them from the start.

Poor AI literacy can lead to misinterpretation of alerts, overdependence on tech, and underutilisation of predictive insights. If we get the training right, we can ensure that AI does not replace the caregiver, but makes their job more meaningful and their care more impactful.

Vishal Lathwal is the CEO of Apollo Home Healthcare (Apollo Hospitals)