Evaluation of internet access and utilization by medical students in Lahore, Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The internet is increasingly being used worldwide in imparting medical education and improving its delivery. It has become an important tool for healthcare professionals training but the data on its use by medical students in developing countries is lacking with no study on the subject from Pakistan. This study was, therefore, carried out with an aim to evaluate the pattern of internet access and utilization by medical students in Pakistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A structured pre-tested questionnaire was administered to a group of 750 medical students in clinical years studying at various public and private medical colleges in Lahore. The questions were related to patterns of internet access, purpose of use and self reported confidence in performing various internet related tasks, use of health related websites to supplement learning and the problems faced by students in using internet at the institution.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 532 medical students (70.9%) returned the questionnaire. The mean age of study participants was 21.04 years (SD 1.96 years). Majority of the respondents (84.0%) reported experience with internet use. About half of the students (42.1%) were using internet occasionally with 23.1%, 20.9% and 13.9% doing so frequently, regularly and rarely respectively. About two third of the students (61.0%) stated that they use internet for both academic and professional activities. Most of the participants preferred to use internet at home (70.5%). Self reported ability to search for required article from PubMed and PakMedinet was reported by only 34.0% of the entire sample. Students were moderately confident in performing various internet related tasks including downloading medical books from internet, searching internet for classification of diseases and downloading full text article. Health related websites were being accessed by 55.1% students to supplement their learning process. Lack of time, inadequate number of available computers and lack of support from staff were cited as the most common problems faced by students while accessing internet in the institution premises. There were significant differences among male and female students with respect to the place of internet use (p = 0.001) and the ability to search online databases for required articles (p = 0.014).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Majority of the medical students in this study had access to internet and were using it for both academic and personal reasons. Nevertheless, it was seen that there is under utilization of the potential of internet resources to augment learning. Increase in awareness, availability of requisite facilities and training in computing skills are required to enable better utilization of digital resources of digital resources by medical students.</p

Utilization of information and communication technology among undergraduate nursing students in Tanta university, Egypt

The use of ICT to enhance learning and teaching has become increasingly important. Information and communication technology in education is a modern, efficient and cost effective process which has created a need to transform how students and teachers from higher institutions learn and teach respectively. This study was conducted to assess the pattern and utilization of Information and Communication Technology among undergraduate Nursing students in Tanta University, Egypt. A descriptive cross sectional design was used for the study where 504 fourth year students enrolled in the 2015/2016 session participated in the study. A validated structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. The results indicated that 80% of the surveyed students utilized ICT in performing their study assignments and research. Majority of the female students (79.0%) self reported themselves as good in computer skills while only one fifth (21.0%) of the male students rated themselves as good in computer skills. Students whose parents had secondary education and above had their total score in self-rating of computer operation skills as significantly higher than those whose parents had below secondary education. The study concluded that majority of the students had good ICT utilization with variation to residence and family income. It is therefore recommended that the university should ensure strict compliance with the rules of e-learning courses for the students and ensure proper application by each student

A study of Internet Utilization by Students in times of Covid Pandemic: Evidence from Ernakulam district of Kerala

The testing times of Covid Pandemic had made online classes the new norm of academic transmission of knowledge. The inevitability of a smart device and Internet access in a student's life had made drastic changes in their academic perspectives. The present study aimed to analyze the attitude of students towards Internet and online classes based on data collected from 111 student respondents belonging to different age and education categories from different parts of the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The frequency analysis and Chi-Square analysis were applied to study the data and found that gender and age categories had no significant association with time spent on online classes while the education category of students shows a significant association

USE OF DIGITAL RESOURCES BY MEDICAL STUDENTS

21st century is considered as the “era of technology”. Technology has modernized the field of education. Modern students prefer to use digital resources in their routine studies. The study was conducted to find the “Use of Digital Resources by Medical Students of Services Institute of Medical Sciences Lahore”. The descriptive data analysis technique was used in this research work to answer the research questions for the fulfillment of research objectives. A group of 276 students was selected among which a total of n=126 respondents were male with a total percentage of 45.7% whereas the total number of female respondents who participated in the study were 150 in number with a cumulative percentage of 54.3%. The results revealed that majority of students (160 out of 272) was aware with the use of both types of resources like electronic and print. Moreover 38% responded that subscribed e-journals/database were available in the library of their medical colleges. Overall awareness regarding use of e-resources among medical students of services institute of medical was good. Medical students are highly depending on information technology; although the electronic resources have not completely replaced the hard form of books but still utilization of electronic resources by medical student and residents is very high, even the result of research demonstrates that more than half students like to use the internet- resources rather than print resources. The findings of this study showed that students were aware with the use of both type of resources

Internet use among students at the Univeristy of Zagreb School of Medicine: a comparative survey of three generations

Središnja medicinska knjižnica Medicinskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu provela je 2000. godine istraživanje o korištenju interneta te poznavanju mrežno dostupnih izvora koje nudi matični fakultet, anketirajući sve studente druge godine. Polazeći od pretpostavke da se svake godine na fakultet upisuju naraštaji studenata bolje informatičke i informacijske pismenosti, prema istoj su metodologiji 2010. i 2012. godine također anketirani svi studenti druge godine kako bi se utvrdile moguće promjene. Usporedbom s rezultatima istraživanja iz 2000. godine, kada je 62 posto ispitanika koristilo internet, a elektroničku poštu imalo 67 posto ispitanika, vidi se veliki porast u korištenju interneta. Internetom se u novom ciklusu ispitivanja služi 98 posto ispitanika, a svega 4 posto ispitanika anketiranih 2010. godine i 2 posto ispitanika iz 2012. godine nemaju elektroničku adresu. Rezultati svih triju istraživanja pokazali su da više od polovice ispitanika internetu pristupa radi zabave i opće obaviještenosti. Svega 4 posto ispitanika iz istraživanja provedenih 2010. i 2012. godine koristi internet za pripremanje ispita. Pristup mrežnim stranicama knjižnice, iako u porastu, i dalje je nizak (u 2012. godini pristupilo im je 19 posto ispitanika u odnosu na samo 4 posto ispitanika iz 2000. godine), što zahtijeva dodatno zalaganje osoblja knjižnice na sadržajnom obogaćivanju i djelotvornom promicanju mrežnih stranica.The paper presents the results of three surveys. The first one is a survey on the use of the Internet and network resources provided by the School of Medicine among all second year students conducted in 2000 by the Central Medical Library of the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb. The other two surveys were conducted on two generations of second year students, the 2010 and the 2012, in order to test the hypothesis that every new generation of students that enroll the School have better computer and information literacy skills. The comparison of the results of all three surveyed groups have shown an increase in the use of the Internet (62% in 2000 vs. 98% in 2010 and 2012 groups) and e-mail communication (67% in 2000 vs. 96% and 98% in 2010 and 2012 groups respectively). More than a half of the respondents used the Internet for entertainment and searching general information. Only 4% of the respondents in 2010 and 2012 groups used the Internet for learning and exam preparations. Also, the research have shown that the students’ access rates to the Library website are still low ( 4% in 2000 vs. 19% in 2012 group), and require an additional content improvement and promotion of the website

Acceptance and Rejection of Internet for Health Information Among Private Health Professionals in a Nigerian City

Internet is one technology that has permeated every sphere of human endeavour, including communication, science and technology, telecommunication, education and health among others. However, no matter how useful, fantastic, appealing and gratifying a technology is, not everyone accepts it. The study evaluates how medical professionals in private hospitals in Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria integrate the use of Internet into their professional practice. Conducted within the framework of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods, using questionnaire and interview schedule respectively to identify factors that precipitate both acceptance and rejection of Internet. The study found that 53% of medical professionals in Anyigba prefer Internet sources as against 20% and 17% who prefer journal/books and professional colleagues respectively. The study also found that health professionals use the Internet mainly to get professional updates (Mean =4.02, Stand Deviation = 1.58, Variance = 2.51), communicate with patients (Mean = 3.94, Standard Deviation = 1.55, Variance = 2.41). Others notable uses identified are for drugs/medication (Mean = 3.77, Standard Deviation = 1.39, Variance = 1.94), monitor trends of diseases (Mean = 3.58, Standard Deviation = 1.75, Variance = 3.05) among other uses. Cost, relevance of information to professional practice, skills on how to use the technology and how readily accessible are the sources, are factors that influence acceptance and/or rejection of a possible information source. The study recommends that health professionals should promote capacity building for both younger and older practitioners on how best to employ Internet-based applications for medical practice. Keywords: Health communication, Internet, Technology Acceptance Model, Nigerian City, Private Hospita

ONLINE MEDICAL EDUCATION PERSPECTIVES IN KAZAKHSTAN AND CENTRAL ASIA

Introduction. Medical education should review online teaching methods so that doctors can use digital information effectively. Virtual education was well received during the pandemic, and teachers and students expressed satisfaction. However, male teachers and students adapted better than female teachers and students. Although online education has advantages, traditional offline education should only be replaced partially. Universities should focus on the development of virtual education and teacher training. Methods. We thoroughly analysed research works published on Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus from the creation of these databases until May 2023. Our search terms included "Distance learning", "Online education", "Medical education", and "Central Asia", and we limited our search to English language articles. We also reviewed the literature lists of all the studies we found to identify potentially relevant articles. We carefully read all the studies and articles we identified, paying attention to the authors' names and publication dates to avoid data duplication. Inclusion and exclusion criteria. To conduct a thorough search, we searched for research articles published in journals that undergo peer review and are written in English. We only included studies that involved medical students and excluded articles that did not relate to distance learning, were published in non-peer-reviewed journals, or needed to be written in English. Conclusion. Higher education faces similar challenges and opportunities in the post-pandemic era, despite variations in cultural backgrounds and educational systems across countries. Improvements are also needed in online medical education, which can be achieved through the development of online training courses, individual tracking, technical control, professional support, and specialised evaluation. Such improvements will make medical training more accessible and sustainable for doctors in all areas. Innovative technologies will be necessary to ensure high-quality medical education in the future

Lernen und Kompetenzentwicklung im dynamischen Umfeld klinischer Arbeit : Zusammenspiel und Bedeutung von Lern- und Arbeitsprozessen sowie technologischen Artefakten in medizinisch-klinischen Kontexten

Untersuchungsgegenstand der explorativen qualitativen Studien war Lernen und Kompetenzentwicklung von medizinischen und klinischen Akteuren, d.h. von Medizinstudierenden, Assistenzärzten als auch Ober- und Fachärzten. Auf Basis umfangreicher Forschungsarbeiten, die mit semistrukturierten Einzelinterviews, Fokusgruppen, Dokumentanalysen, teilnehmender Beobachtung und "shadowing" ein sehr breites Spektrum qualitativer Erhebungsmethoden in vier Schweizer und zwei nepalesischen Spitälern umfassten, wurde dieser Themenbereich in vielschichtigen inhaltlichen und theoretischen Dimensionen weiterentwickelt. In den Arbeiten werden die dynamischen Wechselwirkungen von Kontextfaktoren und Lehr-/Lernprozessen am Beispiel interdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit in Konsilien aufgezeigt sowie die Bedeutung von Technologien als Lernwerkzeuge für die genannten Zielgruppen in unterschiedlichen organisatorischen und kulturellen Kontexten analysiert. Zudem wird gezeigt, dass für ein zukünftig besseres Verständnis von klinischer Kompetenzentwicklung die Analyse des Zusammenspiels vielfältiger, miteinander eng verwobener, multimodaler Repräsentationen (wie z.B. Sprache, visueller und haptischer, körperlicher und IT- artefaktbasierter Strukturen) notwendig ist. Die einzelnen Arbeiten sind aus sozio-kognitiven, sozio- kulturellen und situierten Perspektiven theoretisch fundiert und haben zur Weiterentwicklung bestehender resp. zur Generierung neuer theoretischer Bezugsrahmen geführt. This thesis uses a qualitative, explorative approach to investigate learning and competence development of medical and clinical actors, i.e., of medical students, residents and attending doctors. Extensive research in four Swiss and two Nepalese hospitals based on a broad spectrum of qualitative methods, i.e., semi-structured interviews, focus groups, document analysis, participant observation, and shadowing, contributed to an advanced understanding of the research field regarding manifold thematic and theoretical dimensions. The studies have yielded the dynamic relations of contextual influences and learning and teaching processes, using the example of doctor- to-doctor consultations. Also, the meaning of day-to-day technology use for learning has been demonstrated in different organisational and cultural settings. The findings suggest that, in order to understand learning and working in clinical contexts more comprehensively, more analytical attention should be paid to the interplay of interwoven, multimodal representations (e.g., speech, visual, haptic, and IT-artefact-based structures). The work is drawing on socio-cognitive, socio- cultural and situated learning perspectives and has resulted in the generation of new theoretical frameworks