Implementation and acceptance of e-learning in a hospital environment

The paper describes the implementation and acceptance of e-learning in a hospital environment using off-the-shelf technology. Twenty-eight nurses participated in a pilot study that was designed to support an electronic course on advanced electrocardiogram interpretation. The paper presents the procedure and the technologies used to support the e-learning activities. As a follow up of the pilot study, a survey was built and distributed amongst the caregivers of the hospital (N=203). The paper concludes first that the content of the course, a socially structured e-learning environment, as well as the available technologies are important factors to a successful implementation of an e-learning project. Secondly, the paper concludes that the acceptance of such a system to learn is widely supported amongst nurses but seems less convincing to paramedics and physicians. E-learning cannot be perceived as a substitute of a traditional face-to-face education, but when the e-learning environment is socially well structured, it becomes an efficient support to education in the hospital context.

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