USE OF NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS FOR 3RD-YEAR SURGICAL STUDENTS

Background. Computer-aided instruction has become increasingly popular in medical education. Notebook computers (NCs) are art-active, conven ient microcomputers. We hyothesized that use of NCs by third-year surg ical students would enhance their performance of educational activitie s. Methods, During the 1994-1995 academic year 25 student volunteers u sed NCs during the surgery clerkship. NC software included questions f or self-examination, anatomy self-instruction program word processing and electronic mail (e-mail) for recording and sending history and phy sicals (H & Ps) to faculty for review, and MEDLINE search software. Id entical software was available to all students at on-campus computer c enters. All students were asked to record the number of hours that the y used the self-examination and anatomy programs, number of H & Ps Ps performed and reviewed by faculty, and number of literature searches p erformed. NC users were interviewed regarding the value of NC use and their rating of software programs. Results. NC users (n = 25) used the self-examination and anatomy programs more often, performed more lite rature searches, and had a greater percentage of their H & Ps reviewed by faculty compared with non-NC users (n = 143) (p < 0.05 for all out comes). Most NC users agreed that NC use was enjoyable and valuable, a nd they believed that all students should have NCs during the surgery clerkship. Students rated software in order of preference: e-mail > se lf-examination > MEDLINE search > anatomy program. Conclusions. NC use enhanced performance of educational activities in the surgery clerksh ip. Effort toward developing educational software for surgical student s is warranted because students are likely to use such programs.