Pattern of Internet Use Among Medical Students in Hawler Medical University in Erbil Kurdistan Region

Abstract

ABSTRACT:BACKGROUND:The use of computer and internet by people in all walks of life increase day by day, The internet plays a crucial role in access to information resources especially for medical students. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of current study is to determine the pattern of internet use among Hawler medical university students .METHODS:A cross sectional study started between 10/4-8/5/2014 involve 400 undergraduate students in four colleges of Hawler medical university. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and open-info version 2.3 to find the association between variables at p value ≤ 0.05 to be significant.RESULTS :Out of 400 students, 298(74.5%) use internet daily,252(63%) of users were females.192(48%) were from first stage,372(93%) access internet at home ,235(58%) connecting to internet using either smart phone or personal laptop,225(56%) of students fathers and 166(41.5%) of mothers educational level were college degree. 313(78.3%) of students were from families with medium socioeconomic status ,335(84%) preferred facebook sector of internet,145(36.%)thought that internet interfere negatively with their study,213 (53%) want and 120(30%) want strongly to use internet in medical education in future..The main barriers to internet use is time constraints 280(70%) while only 48(12%) report poor computer and internet skills .CONCLUSION :It was seen that there is under utilization of the potential of internet resources to augment learning. Increase awareness is mandatory for correct manner of better utilization of internet resources in medical education.