Searching for Medical Literature on Internet - Evaluation of Knowledge among Faculty Members

Internet is ubiquitous. Medical education and Research needs knowledge about Internet and medical literature search capability for all medical teachers. This has been studied for students but not for medical teachers. This study was undertaken to assess and improve the knowledge of internet resources among medical teachers and improve their knowledge in searching for medical literature online. 33-medical Teachers of our institutions participated in this study. Training involved two lectures about ‘Internet basics’ and ‘Medical Literature search’ followed by live demonstration. Pre and post training validated questionnaire data analyzed by excel spreadsheet. Analysis showed 32% improvement in knowledge, post training. Participants >40 years age and males showed more improvement. 61% participants were spending <25%-Internet-time for searching medical information. ‘Medical literature search on Internet’ capability has been studied for students but not for medical teachers. Contrary to popular perception participants >40 years of age showed more improvement. Even after training only 32% improvement suggests more structured training and changing attitude. Females showed less improvement compared to males, needs study on larger sample. Regular implementation of focused training modules can produce better results. Medical faculty members have moderate knowledge about working of internet and searching for online medical literature. Targeted and well-structured training can significantly improve their knowledge. The development of positive attitude towards technology and search knowledge can be helpful towards achievement of long-term institutional goals of training better medical graduates of the future.