Digitalization and Physician Learning: Individual Practice, Organizational Context, and Social Norm

Introduction: The emerging context of online platforms and digitally engaged patients demands new competencies of health care professionals. Although information and communication technologies (ICTs) can strengthen continuous professional development (CPD) and learning at work, more research is needed on ICT for experiential and collegial learning.

Methods: The study builds on prior qualitative research to identify issues and comprises a quantitative assessment of ICT usage for learning in health care. A survey was administered to Swedish physicians participating in a CPD program as part of specialist medical training. Conclusions focused specifically on learning dimensions are drawn from correlation analyses complemented with multiple regression.

Results: The findings show that physicians' actual use of ICT is related to perceived performance, social influence, and organizational context. Social norm was the most important variable for measured general usage, whereas performance expectancy (perceived usefulness of ICT) was important for ICT usage for learning. The degree of individual digitalization affects performance and, in turn, actual use.

Discussion: The study highlights the need to incorporate ICT effectively into CPD and clinical work. Besides formal training and support for specific systems, there is a need to understand the usefulness of digitalization integrated into practice. Moving beyond instrumentalist views of technology, the model in this study includes contextualized dimensions of ICT and learning in health care. Findings confirm that medical communities are influencers of use, which suggests that an emphasis on collegial expectations for digital collaboration will enhance practitioner adaptation.