Teleleren: Implementation and Acceptation of E-learning in a Hospital Environment

The paper describes the implementation and acceptation of e-learning (electronic learning) in a hospital environment using off-the-shelf technology (Blackboard). Twenty-eight nurses participated in a pilot study that was designed to support an electronic course on advanced electro-cardiogram interpretation, a required skill for nurses working in cardiology and intensive care. The paper presents the procedure and the technologies used to support the e-learning activities over a period of 6-weeks. Tools such as chat, email, forum were used to support the communication amongst the nurses and with their instructor. As a follow up of the pilot study, a survey was built and distributed amongst the caregivers of the hospital (N=203) to gather their opinion about the implementation of such technology at the hospital. 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 such e-learning project. The paper second concludes that the acceptation of such 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, e.g., balancing asynchronous and synchronous communication as well as face-to-face interaction, it becomes an efficient support to education in the hospital context.