A two-year experience teaching computer literacy to first-year medical students using skill-based cohorts

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Online information is crucial for future medical teaching and practice.
• Medical schools need to equip students with essential computer skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a short computer skills course for incoming medical students.
• To ensure students achieve a baseline comfort level with computer use for medical applications.

Main Methods:

• A self-assessment survey identified students' initial computer skill levels.
• Instruction was tailored to different skill groups (novice to systems engineer).
• A 7-hour hands-on training covered basics, email, MEDLINE, and internet search, followed by a standardized test.

Main Results:

• Student computer skills varied widely upon entry.
• The tailored, hands-on training program was well-received.
• Nearly all students demonstrated an acceptable level of computer comfort post-training.

Conclusions:

• A targeted computer skills course can effectively prepare medical students for technology integration.
• Adapting instruction to diverse skill levels is key to program success.
• This program successfully enhanced digital literacy among new medical students.