Abstract
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are practical and highly available tools. In medical education, ICTs allow physicians to update their knowledge and remember the necessary information within reach of current mobile devices. ICTs as preparation tools for medical education have not been reported for medical students in Mexico. To assess the use of mobile devices as ICTs with medical education purposes, we distributed a questionnaire through an online survey management system to all the medical students (n = 180) from a private university in Mexico City, 100% agreed to participate. We developed a questionnaire based on previous surveys and adapted it to our university. All participants reported possession of an electronic mobile device, and 95% used it regularly for learning purposes. Regardless of the school year, the most frequent usage given to these devices was the search and reading of medical articles, the use of medical calculators, and taking notes. As the levels in career advances, there was a reduction in the use of electronic devices. According to the students, the main barriers towards using mobile devices for learning purposes were both the lack of access to the Internet and permission from the professor to use them. Most medical students use mobile devices for learning purposes, but usage changes during their education. It is convenient to encourage the use of mobile devices and the development of ICT skills as tools for educational purposes rather than banning their use in schools and hospitals.
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The questionnaire is available as a supplementary file (Online Resource 1) at the OSF platform https://osf.io/tnx4d/.
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MERM was responsible for the conceptualization, design of methodology, and supervision; ARR and GET carried out the investigation; ARR, GET, JDME, and MERM prepared the writing of the initial draft; JDME and MERM performed the formal analysis, reviewed and edited the final manuscript. All authors read, approved the final manuscript, gave explicit consent to submit, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
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All procedures performed in this study were under the ethical standards of the international and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The project received approval by the research and ethics committee of the medical school.
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All students signed informed consent to participate in the study.
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Rodríguez-Ríos, A., Espinoza-Téllez, G., Martínez-Ezquerro, J.D. et al. Information and Communication Technology, Mobile Devices, and Medical Education. J Med Syst 44, 90 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-020-01559-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-020-01559-w