An Empirical Assessment of a Technology Acceptance Model for Apps in Medical Education

• Published in: Journal of medical systems Vol. 39; no. 11; p. 176
• Main Authors: Briz-Ponce, Laura, García-Peñalvo, Francisco José
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.11.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applications programs; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Computers; Communities; Consumer Behavior; Education; Education & Training; Education, Medical - methods; Evolution; Female; Health; Health Informatics; Health Sciences; Humans; Male; Medical; Medical Education: Learning from the Inside Out Through Digital Tools; Medical schools; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mobile Applications - utilization; Mobile communication systems; Models, Psychological; Online instruction; Self Efficacy; Statistics for Life Sciences; Students; Students, Medical - psychology; Technology utilization; Medical education; TAM; Mobile devices; Mobile learning; Mobile application; Health
• ISSN: 0148-5598; 1573-689X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10916-015-0352-x

The evolution and the growth of mobile applications (“apps”) in our society is a reality. This general trend is still upward and the app use has also penetrated the medical education community. However, there is a lot of unawareness of the students’ and professionals’ point of view about introducing “apps” within Medical School curriculum. The aim of this research is to design, implement and verify that the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) can be employed to measure and explain the acceptance of mobile technology and “apps” within Medical Education. The methodology was based on a survey distributed to students and medical professionals from University of Salamanca. This model explains 46,7 % of behavioral intention to use mobile devise or “apps” for learning and will help us to justify and understand the current situation of introducing “apps” into the Medical School curriculum.