ICT literacy among new medical entrants

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The ICT literacy has become a fundamental cornerstone of modern education, learning and health care delivery. This study aimed to evaluate the prior exposure on Internet, Email, Microsoft Office package, Social Networking (SN), Internet telephony (IT) and Cloud Storage Services (CSS) among new entrants to Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. METHOD: Moodle based self-administered questionnaire was given to new entrants during the orientation program. RESULTS: The results are described according to the 2015 (n=159) and 2016 (n=147) batches respectively. 99% had accessed Internet previously (n=157 and n=146, P=0.6). Those who surfed Internet daily were 42% (n=53, n=74, P<0.01)95% had email accounts (n=146, and n=144, P=0.02). 13% accessed emails daily (n=21 and n=19, P=0.94). 57% used CSS (n=82, n=92, P=0.05) and 94% had been SN (n=149, n=135, P= 0.53) and 62% used IT (n=99 n=99, P= 0.35). 98% had used MS WORD (n=156, n=143, P=0.63), 82% had used MS EXCEL (n=130,n=132,P=0.05) and 96% had used PPT (n=153,n=137,P=0.23) before entering to the University. There was no significant difference between usage of WORD and PPT (P=0.06) but significantly lower usage of EXCEL compared to WORD (P<0.01) and PPT (P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Majority of students had used internet and internet based services including email, CSS, SN, IT. Their exposure to MS office package was satisfactory. Daily Internet browsing and utilizing email were significantly (p<0.01 for each batch) lower in comparison to the number utilizing the services.CSS and IT we e not popular when compared to other services.