Medical students’ intention to adopt electronic health records to improve the quality of healthcare

Purpose While Ghana has a national digital health strategy, the readiness of its future healthcare workforce remains under-examined. This study assesses factors influencing the intention to adopt EHRs to improve the quality of healthcare among final-year students at the University of Ghana Medical School, a cohort representing the vanguard of this digital transition. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among the entire cohort of 199 students. A structured questionnaire, based on the Technology Acceptance Model was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, perceived usefulness perceived ease of use and intention to adopt Electronic Health Records Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, and multivariable logistic regression. The level of significance was accepted at p 0.05 at a 95% Confidence Interval. Findings A response rate of 95.5% (190/199) was achieved. A substantial majority of students (89%) expressed a positive intention to adopt Electronic Health Records (EHRs). In bivariate analysis, significant factors associated with adoption intention included being male (cOR = 3.016, p = 0.039), awareness of EHR features (cOR = 4.194, p = 0.006), perceiving EHRs as extremely useful (cOR = 9.33, p = 0.008), and prior EHR-specific training (cOR = 3.82, p = 0.02). However, after multivariable adjustment, none of these associations retained statistical significance, and general digital literacy was not independently associated with adoption intention (p = 0.055). Originality/value The findings suggest a need for continued research to foster universal Electronic Health Records (EHRs) adoption among healthcare providers to improve health care through technology.