Information and informatics literacy: Skills, timing, and estimates of competence

Background: Computing and biomedical informatics technologies are providing almost instantaneous access to vast amounts of possibly relevant informati on. Although students are entering medical school with increasingly sophist icated basic technological skills, medical educators must determine what cu rricular enhancements are needed to prepare learners for the world of elect ronic information. Purpose: The purpose was to examine opinions of academic affairs and inform atics administrators, curriculum deans and recently matriculated medical st udents about prematriculation competence and medical education learning exp ectations. Methods: Two surveys were administered: an Information Literacy Survey for curriculum/informatics deans and a Computing Skills Survey for entering med ical students. Results: Results highlight differences of opinion about entering competenci es. They also indicate that medical school administrators believe that most basic information skills fall within the domain of undergraduate medical e ducation. Conclusions: Further investigations are needed to determine precise entry-l evel skills and whether information literacy will increase as a result of r ising levels of technical competence. Copyright (C) 2000 by Lawrence Erlbau m Associates, Inc.