Original Research Paper
Computer and internet use by the undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh
Authors:
M.M. Shaheen ,
Associate Professor (ENT), Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Dhaka, BD
S. Naher,
Assistant Professor (Psychiatry), National Institute of Mental Health, Dhaka, BD
M.H.K. Talukder,
3TNP-HRH, WHO Country Office, BD
S. Tasnim
Director, Institute of Child and Mother Health, Dhaka, BD
Abstract
Background: A rising tide of information technology (IT) is sweeping through medical education providing learners with easier and more effective access to a wider variety and greater quantity of information.
Objectives: This descriptive cross sectional survey was done to explore status of computer and internet use by undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh.
Methods: 659 final year MBBS students of randomly selected eight medical colleges of Bangladesh were supplied with a pre tested self-administered questionnaire, seeking information regarding the use of computer and internet, in the period of July 2012 to June 2013.
Results: Majority (52%) of the respondents were female. Almost 90% of the respondents had computer and internet access. 83% had personal computer and almost two third of the sample used computers for more than 3 years. Majority used computer and internet more for non-academic activities like chatting, E mail, entertainment, collection of general information, reading newspaper and etc. The features used for academic purposes were multimedia/power point (61.2%), internet literature search (42.3%), presentations (25.8%), and word processing (23.2%). According to the research findings the most visited sites for academic purposes were Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Facebook and YouTube.
Conclusion: It is essential to improve the computer and IT knowledge in academics meanwhile reducing non-academic uses.
How to Cite:
Shaheen, M.M., Naher, S., Talukder, M.H.K. and Tasnim, S., 2016. Computer and internet use by the undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh. South-East Asian Journal of Medical Education, 10(2), pp.45–54. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/seajme.v10i2.27
Published on
01 Dec 2016.
Peer Reviewed
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