Digital Literacy in Medical Education: An Elective Course
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Abstract
Background
Online literacy is becoming crucial in medical education as the number of e-patients and medical websites are exponentially growing. Preparing medical students for practicing medicine today not only requires clinical skills, but young doctors also have to face the huge number of medical resources and patients seeking health-related information online. In order to investigate whether the online literacy of medical students can be improved in the medical curriculum, we launched the first university elective credit course at the University of Debrecen, Medical School and Health Science Center focusing on how medical students can and should use the world wide web. The course consisted of 20 lectures in 10 occasions covering medical blogs, the advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook or Wikipedia, virtual worlds and mobile applications, among others. The material was made available on http://med20course.com.
Methods
140 students completed the course and filled a survey before and after. The surveys aimed to determine how their attitude and knowledge of Web 2.0 and medicine changed during the education.
Results
Based on the results, students' understanding of definitions such as Web 2.0, Medicine 2.0 or e-patients significantly improved. Their attitude related to the possible dangers of the growing popularity of world wide web also changed as they learnt through practical examples and case presentations how to avoid privacy issues and how to meet the special needs of e-patients.
Conclusions
Such a course in the structure of the basic medical curriculum can improve the knowledge of medical students about the world wide web in terms of medicine and healthcare and might help them meet the expectations of e-patients.
Online literacy is becoming crucial in medical education as the number of e-patients and medical websites are exponentially growing. Preparing medical students for practicing medicine today not only requires clinical skills, but young doctors also have to face the huge number of medical resources and patients seeking health-related information online. In order to investigate whether the online literacy of medical students can be improved in the medical curriculum, we launched the first university elective credit course at the University of Debrecen, Medical School and Health Science Center focusing on how medical students can and should use the world wide web. The course consisted of 20 lectures in 10 occasions covering medical blogs, the advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook or Wikipedia, virtual worlds and mobile applications, among others. The material was made available on http://med20course.com.
Methods
140 students completed the course and filled a survey before and after. The surveys aimed to determine how their attitude and knowledge of Web 2.0 and medicine changed during the education.
Results
Based on the results, students' understanding of definitions such as Web 2.0, Medicine 2.0 or e-patients significantly improved. Their attitude related to the possible dangers of the growing popularity of world wide web also changed as they learnt through practical examples and case presentations how to avoid privacy issues and how to meet the special needs of e-patients.
Conclusions
Such a course in the structure of the basic medical curriculum can improve the knowledge of medical students about the world wide web in terms of medicine and healthcare and might help them meet the expectations of e-patients.
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