Use of Computers and the Internet in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Internet is an important source of up-to-date information for health clinical students in many countries. Several studies have explored use of the computer and the Internet by medical and dental students but few have investigated the extent to which these students used the Internet for academic purposes. The objectives of this study were to assess students' use of the Internet, identify the type of health information students sought from the Internet, and examine the influence of gender on Internet usage. One hundred and seventy-three students of the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria, completed a self-administered questionnaire between February and March 2004. Clinical students constituted the majority of the sample. Only a handful of the students had a personal computer but 87% claimed to be computer literate. Virtually all the students had used the Internet but only about a quarter had ever searched any database for health information. Despite the availability of the Internet as an important source of health information, only a small portion had fully utilized the resource.