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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Libyan International Medical University Journal 2019; 04(02): 74-81
DOI: 10.4103/LIUJ.LIUJ_25_19
Original Article

Health professional students' preparedness for E-Health

Adel A. Al-Tawaty
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Libyan International Medical University, Benghazi, Libya
,
Ehab Omar Elfallah
1   Department of Software Engineering, Faculty of Information Technology, Libyan International Medical University, Benghazi, Libya
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Abstract

Background: E-Health is one of the recent major developments in health-care provision. Today's health professional students are considered digitally oriented, and this may endow them with the necessary capabilities to implement E-Health on graduation. Aim: This study aimed to assess students' views, use, confidence, and need for training on E-Health. Participants: Fourth-, 5th- and internship-year students of the medical and dental schools at the Libyan International Medical University constituted the study population. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted using an online administered survey. Prior to implementation, the questionnaire was reviewed by experts and then piloted on a group of research-targeted students. Likert scale was used for most questions and few were in the form of short answers. Descriptive statistics were reported using SPSS software version 23.0. Results: One hundred and two students responded, and all responders were included for most select-response questions. The male-to-female ratio was 2:3, with a mean age of 24 ± 1.8 years. Medical students accounted for 52% of the participants. An average of 45% reported proficiency in written and spoken English. Only 12% have taken IT-related courses. Their view on E-Health was moderately positive with a mean of 3.5 ± 0.34 of 3.1 ± 1.029. In spite of this, 43% ± 3.9% had negative views on E-Health. Nearly 58% of the participants used digital tools and software with a mean score of 2.43 ± 0.6. Most students reported using social media, especially Facebook (mean 4.95 ± 1.7). The students reported a confidence level of information and communication technology (ICT) use of 3.4 ± 1.2. They also described their confidence in learning a new technology with a value of 3 ± 0.3. Almost 32.9% of the participants expressed an overall need for training on ICT tools. Conclusion: The overall preparedness of this group for ICT is moderate and needs improvement. This could be achieved through introducing changes in the taught curriculum.

Key-words:

E-Health - health professional - information and communication technology - learning confidence

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 22 October 2019

Accepted: 09 December 2019

Article published online:
10 June 2022

© 2019. Libyan International Medical University. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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