BACKGROUND
Many theories/ models adopted from behavioral sciences literature or developed within the field of information technologies could help in understanding the technology acceptance, usage, and effective adoption.
OBJECTIVE
The main aim of this paper is to review the different theories/ models that can help in understanding information technology/system acceptance and use, and to choose the most appropriate theoretical framework that could be applied to understand the factors influencing physicians’ use of the Electronic Health Record system (EHR) at King Fahd Military Medical Complex (KFMMC) in Dhahran city, Saudi Arabia.
METHODS
The theories/ models were reviewed using scientific databases. The inclusion criteria were if the theories/ models used to explain individual behaviors toward accepting and using of information technology including the once conducted within the healthcare.
RESULTS
The review showed that there were five theories/ models were used within information technology studies to understand the technology acceptance and used. There were Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Innovation Diffusion Theory, Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and Technology Acceptance Model. Each has different explanatory power of technology use. The most appropriate theoretical framework to understand the reason behind physician use of the EHR at KFMMC would be the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM model could explain up to 75% of the variation in the behavioral intention (acceptance), and up to 62% of the variation in the actual use. It is the gold standard for assessing the usage of health technologies and systems. In fact, the TAM model is one of the core models used to explore the physician’s perceptions of the Electronic Health Record system adoption.
CONCLUSIONS
This review showed that there are different theories available in the literature can be used to justify the reason behind electronic health record acceptance. TAM is one of the effective, simplest models used to understand the factors influencing physicians to use the EHR-system. Further studies need to apply the TAM model to check its ability in explaining the reason behind EHR within different hospitals in Saudi Arabia
ASSESSING OLDER ADULTS’ SOCIO-BEHAVIORAL HEALTH USING ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD DATA
