Abstract

Background: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has proven useful in improving quality of health care and in controlling the health-care costs. Studies have shown that knowledge of information and communication technologies had an influence on EBM learning.

Aims and Objectives: The present study was undertaken to correlate the computer literacy and EBM learning in 2nd year MBBS students.

Materials and Methods: A validated questionnaire was given to students in Phase II MBBS at a teaching hospital in southern India. A total of 66 students responded to the questionnaire. Spearman’s rank correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between Student’s computer literacy and EBM learning. The Chi-square test was used to study the association between male and female responses.

Results: Earlier computer training did not show any significant association with EBM learning, among female and male respondents. Browsing/searching the Internet more frequently had a significant male association between understanding the principles of EBM (χ2 P = 0.03) when compared to females. The same was seen in case of acceptance (χ2 P = 0.05) and interest (χ2 P = 0.04) toward EBM learning. A strong positive correlation was found between the prior computer training and frequency of Internet usage with student EBM learning (Spearman correlation R = 0.99).

Conclusion: The students should learn to address clinical questions based on current evidence to treat patients optimally. EBM helps to address this issue. Since computer skills are essential for integrating EBM into daily practice, efforts should be made to introduce EBM in medical curricula and improving computer skills among students.

Key words: Evidence-based Medicine; Computer Literacy; Medical Education; Student Learning