Computer and Internet use among Undergraduate Medical Students in Iran

OBJECTIVE Although computer technologies are now widely used in medicine, little is known about its use among medical students in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the competence and access to computer and internet among the medical students. METHODS In this descriptive study, medical students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Science, Yazd, Iran from the fifth years were asked to answer a questionnaire during a time-tabled lecture slot. The chi-square test was used to compare the frequency of computer and internet use between the two genders, and the level of statistical significance for all test was set at 0.05. RESULTS All the students have a personal computer and internet access. There were no statistically significant differences between men and women for the computer and internet access, use wireless device to access internet, having laptop and e-mail address and the difficulties encountered using internet. The main reason for less utilization of internet was slow speed of data transfer. CONCLUSIONS Because of the wide range of computer skills and internet information among medical students in our institution, a single computer and internet course for all students would not be useful nor would it be accepted.