evaluation of urmia medical students' knowledge of computers and informatics

introduction: the drive for health care and medical sciences to become evidence-based has been accelerated during recent years and therefore quick access to relevant information without the use of information and communication technology seems impossible. the aim of this study was to evaluate medical students' knowledge of computers and information science in urmia university. methods: this survey was implemented using questionnaire research method. a total of 166 from 275 medical students in different levels namely physiopathology, internship, and externship were assessed in november 2006. the data were collected in questionnaires. they were analyzed with spss. results: some 71.3 % of the students had access to a computer at their homes but most of them (77%) had had no formal computer training before. most of students could send and receive emails and also attach a file to it. most of them had a little information about advanced search tools (27.7%) and search operators (5.4 %). approximately 1/3 of students knew about medical information banks and used them. conclusion: most of students had no formal computer training before, though such trainings would help students perform educational search tasks more quickly. students had a little information about using search tools, though they are the most important tools for getting access to information resources within the web. medical information banks are sources that would help medical students to gain more quick access to useful articles, however, students had little information about these important sources and therefore did not use them frequently.