Assessment of knowledge, attitude and computer skills of the faculty members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in regard to the application of computer and internet in medical education

Introduction. Today, computer and information technology serve an increasingly important role in medical education. Since the faculty members have an essential role in medical education, this study was designed to assess their knowledge, attitude and computer skills. So, the results of this survey would help us to identify and manage the problems in the way of proper application of computer and information technology in medical education. Methods. This was a cross-sectional survey in which stratified sampling was used. 230 of the faculty members of all the faculties in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences completed a 60 item questionnaire which had three parts, each part including questions regarding attitude, knowledge and computer skills respectively. Then the data were analyzed by SPSS software. Frequency distribution of all questions were calculated and also T-test, Chi2 test were used. Results. The earned results showed that 97.3% of the faculty members believed computer had an important role in promoting their scientific activities and all of them recognized that a proper knowledge of computer was necessary for the students. The mean of the faculty member's knowledge which indicated their skills in using computers, routine softwares, electronic mail and searching online articles and databases was calculated 11.86 based on 20 and with the standard deviation of 5. 83.8% of the faculty had personal computer at home and their use of computer was 7.8 hours per week with the standard deviation of 7. They used internet about 6.4 ± 5.9 hours per week. Conclusion. Most of the faculty members had a positive attitude towards the role of computer and internet in medical education but many of them lacked enough knowledge and skills to use computer and internet in a proper manner. Therefore, it is necessary to take some measures in order to promote faculty members' knowledge and computer skills.