Nat.J.Res.Com.Med .,1(1):01-60,2012 Assessing Computer Skills among Graduate Medical Students in South India Seetharaman N 1 Abstract Purpose: The internet has profoundly changed the way medical knowledge is shared and accessed. To be a computer- literate physician in the 21 st century, the necessary skill-sets need to be learnt sometime during graduate medical training. The current study aims to assess the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) skills and training needs among undergraduate medical students in South India. Methods: A Cross-sectional, questionnaire based survey was administered among undergraduate medical students (n=734) of SRM Medical College Hospital, Chennai, south India. Variables studied include ownership, access to and ease of use of computers and a self-reported assessment of competence to perform specific ICT tasks. Results: 46.2% of the medical graduates were using a computer ‘almost every day’ and the mean age of first contact with computers was 12.2 + 3.8 years. Male students spend more time online than female students (p<0.001). Beyond sending emails and making PowerPoint presentations, majority were not confident in key ICT skills such as online literature search (74.3%) and statistical analysis (79.2%). Less than half of the students had had training in computers previously and more than two-thirds want to take part in computer training programs. Conclusions: Although a fair degree of self-learning is evident among the medical graduates, key ICT skills such as accessing online health resources need to be imparted systemically. Formal computer usage training programs - based on needs as measured in the current study - need to be incorporated in to the medical curriculum to equip the physicians of tomorrow with the skill of life-long self learning. Key words: Computer Literacy, Medical graduates, Medical education, Medical Informatics, Internet, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) 1. Introduction Computer aided / assisted learning (CAL) has become an integral part of Medical Education in the 21 st century and today’s medical graduates need to be computer literate. Many medical schools in the developed countries now require students to purchase computers. (1, 2) One estimate suggests that by 2010 more than 30% of a physician's time will be spent using information technology tools. (3) Rapid advancements in the fields of health and information technology require that medical practitioners develop computer skills to enhance the quality of patient care, medical education and for ongoing research. The internet is now one of the most important sources of medical and health related knowledge. Using computerized medical records, retrieving computer based knowledge resources, and understanding the basics of the Internet have all become crucial for today’s physicians (4, 5) Hence computer related skills need to be imparted to medical graduates some time during their undergraduate training program. 1 – Department of Community Medicine, SRM Medical College & Research Centre, Chennai Address for correspondence: Dr.N.Seetharaman, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, SRM Medical College & Research Centre, Chennai-603203, India. Email: seethahere@gmail.com 026