Title:	ASSESSMENT OF SKILLS AND ATTITUDE OF DENTAL STUDENTS AND INTERNS TOWARD DENTAL INFORMATICS IN KSU
Author(s):	Ahmed Al Barrak, Rua’a Al Yami, Arwa Bamajboor
ISBN:	978-972-8939-49-6
Editors:	Mário Macedo
Year:	2011
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Dental Informatics, computer skills, user attitude, medical informatics, e-learning, dental education.
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	35
Last Page:	42
Language:	English
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Paper Abstract:	Objectives: This study aimed to (i) assess basic dental informatics (DI) skills and computer readiness of undergraduate dental students and interns at the College of Dentistry, KSU, (ii) assess students and interns’ attitude toward dental informatics, (iii) to investigate the relationship between DI skills and attitude along with other factors such as age, computer and internet accessibility. Methodology: A paper-based questionnaire arranged in five sections was distributed to all undergraduate dental students and interns at the College of Dentistry, KSU, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire sections were modified from previous studies instruments. Section one focused on participant’s demographic data such as gender, age and academic level; section two addressed participant’s current use of computer applications; section three included questions addressing participant’s frequently used medical search engines and sources of information; section four included questions exploring participant’s attitude toward DI; section five, included several questions to assess participants' basic computer and DI skills in various tasks including typing, emailing and other basic computer applications. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS©V17.0. Results: In total, 320 students (including dental interns) responded to the questionnaire, 56% males and 44% females. The participant age was (21.7 ± 1.7 years; mean ± SD). Skills and attitude were calculated using the study instruments. The participants were familiar with the basic computer skills (skills mean was 68.3% ± 23.5), and had positive attitude (attitude mean was 71.7% ± 25.5), with a significant correlation between skills and attitude (r = 0.60, P 0.01). Most of the participants (98.8%) have computer at home and have been using it regularly for (8.5 ± 3years; mean ± SD). However, (92.5%) of surveyed participants reported that they have familiarized themselves with computer applications through personal study and self experience. Computers and Internet were used mainly (ranging from always to frequently) for e-mail (92.1%) and personal use (85.5%). On the other side, utilization of the computer and Internet for academic activity was the least (63.4%). Furthermore, 85.9% of participants used the Internet mainly as a source of information, followed by lecture notes (80.5%). Google Scholar was used by 73.4% of the participants as the highest used searching engine among other searching engines including Pub Med, Ovid, Web of science, and MD consult. Conclusion: Despite the good computer skills and the positive attitude for undergraduate dental students and interns in this study, however a relatively low level of utilization of these skills in clinical and academic activities was observed. A positive relationship was observed between level of computer application skills and participants attitude, which support the introduction of formal DI training/courses for undergraduate students and Interns.
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