Change of perceived ICT skills of medical students over four years: a follow up study

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills of doctors are a great advantage when implementing ICT based components in health services. ICT skills acquired by medical undergraduates will be beneficial in their career. Medical undergraduates are involved in many ICT related assignments during their training in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna. The aim of this study is to investigate the improvement of perceived ICT skills during a four-year study period in a group of medical students.

Perceived ICT knowledge of a single group of medical undergraduates in the University of Ruhuna was investigated during their first year and fourth year using the same questionnaire. Several aspects of ICT knowledge such as ability to prepare documents using Microsoft Word (MS Word), composing and sending e-mails, browsing the internet and finding required information were assessed in the questionnaire. A score was calculated for each skill obtained for MS Word, e-mail and Internet skills.

Results reveal that only internet, e-mail and the total ICT scores showed significant improvement, while MS Word skills did not change significantly. Females showed significant development in internet skills and the total ICT scores whereas males did not show such a significant change.

This shows that perceived ICT skills in relation to internet and email skills have improved during the students’ stay at the Medical Faculty. This was not seen in MS Word skills. Female students who had comparatively poor skills during their first year showed greater improvement than their male counterparts.