Preparing tomorrow's doctors: the impact of a special study module in medical informatics

Background In response to the call for more informatics teaching in the med ical curriculum, an elective special study module has been offered to first -year students at Queen's University since 1997. Objectives To assess the impact of a medical informatics course in terms of the use of skills acquired and attitudes held about information technology (IT) in medicine. Methods A postal structured questionnaire was sent to all 30 students who t ook the medical informatics special study module in 1997 and to all 29 stud ents who took the module in 1998, plus an age and sex-matched group of cont rols in each year. Main outcome measures included attitudes to the role of IT in medicine and declared frequency of use of various software packages. Results Compared with the control group, those taking the module felt less confident initially with computers. There was a high level of positive atti tude to computers in medicine following the course, in both study and contr ol groups. There was a significantly greater use of word-processing (P=0.00 1) and presentation packages (P=0.0005) amongst third-year students compare d with second-year students, but there was no significant difference in thi s regard between those taking the module and controls. Conclusions Students' use of computer technology and IT skills, is more inf luenced by the demands of the overall curriculum than by undertaking a sing le module in medical informatics. A special study module may, however, prov ide valuable support by performing a 'remedial function'. The authors found the module a useful first step in the process of introducing medical infor matics to the core curriculum.