A European project to innovate healthcare assistant training
LYRA (Learning pathwaYs for Relational, Art-based and Digital Skills in VET for Healthcare Assistants) is a European project funded under the Erasmus+ programme. It is an initiative created with the aim of innovating vocational education and training for healthcare assistants through an interdisciplinary and person-centred approach.
The LYRA project responds to the growing need to develop new skills within European healthcare and social care contexts. It promotes training pathways capable of integrating relational, digital, intercultural, and ethical dimensions into Vocational Education and Training (VET).
LYRA brings together European partners from the fields of healthcare, education, Health Humanities, and educational innovation, with the goal of developing replicable and sustainable training models at the European level.
An approach based on Health Humanities
One of the distinctive features of the project is the adoption of an approach grounded in Health Humanities, understood as the integration of narrative, artistic, ethical, and relational dimensions into healthcare education and practice.
Within this interdisciplinary framework, LYRA particularly promotes:
- Medical Humanities, encouraging the integration of humanities into clinical and healthcare education through continuous ethical and professional reflection;
- Narrative Medicine, as a tool to improve listening, communication, and empathy in individual care pathways through the use of storytelling and reflective writing.
The objective is to promote a more person-centred form of education, capable of developing not only technical skills, but also communication, empathy, and care-oriented competences within the vocational training of healthcare assistants.
The four LYRA VET modules
The LYRA project involves the development of four multilingual VET training modules, co-designed by healthcare experts, educators, and training professionals from the partner countries.
The four main areas addressed by the modules are:
- Caring in Complexity and Fragility: dedicated to the care of fragility and complex healthcare needs, particularly in relation to chronic diseases, rare conditions, disabilities, and ageing;
- Empathy and Communication in Educational and Developmental Contexts: focused on empathy, communication, and care relationships, with particular attention to children, adolescents, and families;
- Inclusive Care in Intercultural and Diverse Teams: oriented towards inclusion and the management of cultural diversity among patients and professionals in healthcare settings;
- Working in Interprofessional Care Teams: dedicated to collaboration, communication, and shared decision-making within interdisciplinary care teams.
Each module is developed from real-life scenarios collected during the needs analysis phase, following shared guidelines to ensure alignment with European frameworks and national VET standards.
LYRA Project Objectives
General Objective
The LYRA project aims to modernise vocational education and training for Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) in Europe through the development of innovative learning pathways focused on relational, digital, ethical, intercultural and interprofessional competences.
In response to demographic changes, the rise in chronic conditions, the increasing complexity of care systems and the reduction of informal care networks, LYRA seeks to strengthen the capacity of European VET systems to train professionals capable of operating effectively in increasingly complex, multidisciplinary and multicultural care environments.
Specific Objectives
In addition to the broader objective of innovating healthcare education and training, the LYRA project pursues the following specific objectives:
- To develop and implement shared transnational VET modules integrated into national training programmes for healthcare assistants, focusing on Health Humanities, relational and communication skills, ethics of care, inclusion and digital transformation.
- To strengthen the transversal and interprofessional competences of healthcare workers, which are often insufficiently addressed in traditional curricula, with particular attention to empathy, communication, collaboration among professionals and the management of complex care situations.
- To improve the recognition and transferability of competences at European level by enhancing the comparability of qualifications among partner countries and promoting the use of common tools such as EQF and ECVET.
- To support the training of VET teachers and trainers through a European blended programme (combining digital learning and mobility activities) aimed at updating teaching methodologies and strengthening educational capacities in evolving healthcare contexts.
- To promote transnational and cross-sector cooperation by fostering collaboration among VET providers, healthcare institutions, expert organisations and public and private stakeholders.
- To integrate the digital dimension into healthcare education and training in order to reduce technological skills gaps among countries and improve the use of digital tools in care settings.
- To respond to the needs of the European healthcare labour market by helping reduce the shortage of qualified personnel and improving the preparedness of healthcare assistants to address challenges related to population ageing and the growing demand for long-term care.
A collaborative European project
The LYRA project is implemented by a European partnership composed of healthcare institutions, vocational education and training providers, universities, and organisations active in the fields of healthcare, education, and social innovation.
Through transnational and interdisciplinary collaboration, the project aims to contribute to the development of more inclusive, sustainable, and responsive training models aligned with the transformations taking place in the European healthcare sector.