Clinicians and computers: Friends or foes?

Background: Computer-aided learning is accepted by students as a learning r esource, but the views of the teaching community are largely unknown. Purpose: To document clinicians 'experience with computers and to record th eir attitudes toward computer usage in clinical practice and student educat ion. Methods: Questionnaire mailed out to all clinicians, including interns and residents, fellows, and attending physicians in 3 major teaching hospitals in South Australia, with a total of 646 clinical staff. Results: Replies were received from 246 staff: Eighty percent of clinicians had at least 2 years of experience with computers and used computers for a t least 2 hr each week. Despite this, there was an obvious lack of convicti on among clinicians that computer-aided learning was of use in student educ ation and assessment. This may reflect their lack of experience with this m edium as an educational tool. Conclusions: If computer-aided learning is to make any significant impact o n medical student education, it must be carefully and objectively evaluated , and its benefit must be clearly demonstrated to clinical teachers. Copyri ght (C) 2000 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.