Level of awareness of Saudi medical students of the internet-based health-related information seeking and developing to support health services

Abstract

Background. Many studies are available in the literature about e-health in Saudi Arabia, however, data is limited to a few organizations and does not necessarily reflect the current and potential use of e-health for health care organizations in the country. This study aimed to determine the level of awareness of Saudi medical students of the internet-based health-related information seeking and developing to support health services and significant predictors of their practice.Methods. A cross-sectional survey of 440 medical students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was conducted, during October/November 2019, using a previously validated questionnaire, to assess: (1) knowledge in three domains; e-health definition (13 statements), fields of application of e-health (8 statements), methods of using e-health (7 statements), (2) attitude toward using e-health (8 statements) and (3) reported practice of e-health in medical training (5 statements). A scoring system was used to calculate the total and percentage score of knowledge, attitude, and practice for each student. Multiple regression analysis was applied to identify predictors of e-health practice. Significance was considered at p<0.05. Results. Of 440 medical students, the majority were females (55.7%) and from families whose monthly income was more than 10,000SR (82.8%). Overall knowledge about e-health was unsatisfactory (percentage mean score, PMS=71.6%), with only 43.6% of students reporting a satisfactory level. However, this level was satisfactory for fields of application (Percentage mean score-PMS=76.6%) and unsatisfactory for the definition of e-health (PMS=70.7%) and methods of its use (PMS=65.7%) domains. The overall attitude towards e-health use was positive (PMS=82.3%), with nearly three-quarters of students (73.4%) reporting a positive attitude. Generally, a good level of practice of e-health was reported by students (PMS=84.3%), with more than three-quarters of students (78.4%) reporting good practice. Adjusting for age, gender, stream, educational grade, and family monthly income, good practice was significantly predicted with higher knowledge (t=2.22, p=0.03) and attitude (t=2.11, p=0.04) scores.Conclusion. This study provides basic information regarding medical students' level of awareness of internet-based health-related information seeking and developing to support health services. More resources should be directed to elevate medical students' knowledge and to motivate them to practice e-health using the available tools.

Healthcare providers’ readiness for electronic health record adoption: a cross-sectional study during pre-implementation phase

“…Our finding implied healthcare providers who had good awareness were more likely to be ready. This finding was consistent with previous research findings [ 78 , 79 ]. This implied that awareness campaigns enabled individuals to understand the values of EHRs and to take action.…”

“…Knowledge score was calculated as follows: 1 point for a correct answer and 0 points for don’t know & incorrect answer. Respondents who scored the mean and above were considered as having good knowledge, whereas those who scored below the mean were considered as having poor knowledge [ 45 , 50 , 78 ].…”

“…The main hindering factors that influence the readiness of healthcare professionals in the implementation of an EHR are: sex [ 50 , 68 ], age [ 50 , 69 – 71 ], knowledge [ 30 , 45 , 50 , 72 – 75 ], attitude [ 74 , 76 , 77 ], awareness [ 78 , 79 ], innovativeness [ 75 ], training [ 63 , 64 , 80 ], computer literacy [ 50 , 63 , 72 , 74 ], workload [ 81 ], management support [ 30 , 82 ], experience [ 40 , 44 , 46 , 57 , 63 , 64 , 72 , 83 – 86 ], self-efficacy [ 41 , 68 , 87 ], perceived benefit [ 30 , 77 , 88 , 89 ], computer use, and internet access [ 90 ].…”

The Impact of Upgrade towards Comprehensive Electronic Medical Record System on Hospital Performance: A Single Tertiary Care Center Experience in Saudi Arabia

“…The second result of this study which showed a positive significant relationship between comprehensive EMR and patient-centeredness in an advanced tertiary care setting in Saudi Arabia can be explained by the fact that the utilization of comprehensive EMR in KAMC increases the ability to focus on patients and provide care that respects and responds to the patient's preferences, needs and individual values, as it focuses on providing accurate information about the patient, whether it is personal information, information about the diagnosis of his disease, or information about the results of medical tests and examinations, or information about the treatment and its scheduled program and the extent of the patient's response to this treatment and other things that contribute to raising the efficiency of medical care, which was emphasized in the study of Kalra, Baruah and Unnikrishnan [16] and Aldosari et al [27]. Furthermore, there is a consistency between this result and the studies of Adler-Milstein et al and Aldebasi et al [34,35] which indicated that the use of comprehensive EMR is related to improving performance and increasing the ability to focus on patients, as it facilitates the process of entering patient information and helps them in improving the quality of health care service. The system also contributes to increasing the effectiveness of communications between doctors and other departments, as well as speeding up and developing procedures, and maintaining high standards in services.…”

Medical students’ experience with accessing medical records in Saudi Arabia: a descriptive study

“…The Ministry of Health (MOH) launched an E-Health strategy that depends on several dimensions such as patient-centric care and interoperable EHR [ 22 ]. A recent study found the attitude towards E-health use was positive among medical students [ 23 ]. Indeed, authentic of clinical experiences, which included documenting in patients’ records, was mentioned as a factor for improving Saudi medical students learning environment [ 24 ].…”