Compulsory computer purchase in a traditional medical school curriculum

Background: The School of Medicine at Shreveport has instituted a compulsor y computer purchase program. Concomitant with the program, efforts have bee n made to integrate computer-based applications into the curriculum. Description: To become familiar with the new technology, students took part in a short course dealing with e-mail, the Internet, and various library s ystems. Evaluation: Students were surveyed annually concerning their satisfaction w ith both the mandated purchase program and the integration of computers int o the curriculum. The results discussed reflect different incoming classes and a longitudinal view of the same class. Conclusions: In general students were very positive concerning the computer purchase program and were enthusiastic about their ability to contact facu lty and other students They also felt that computer skills would be importa nt to them as physicians. The introduction of computer-based learning was f elt to be one of the least successful aspects of the program.