Clinicians and computers: Friends or foes?

Abstract

<h4>Background</h4>Computer-aided learning is accepted by students as a learning resource, but the views of the teaching community are largely unknown.<h4>Purpose</h4>To document clinicians' experience with computers and to record their attitudes toward computer usage in clinical practice and student education.<h4>Methods</h4>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.<h4>Results</h4>Replies were received from 246 staff. Eighty percent of clinicians had at least 2 years of experience with computers and used computers for at least 2 hr each week. Despite this, there was an obvious lack of conviction among clinicians that computer-aided learning was of use in student education and assessment. This may reflect their lack of experience with this medium as an educational tool.<h4>Conclusions</h4>If computer-aided learning is to make any significant impact on medical student education, it must be carefully and objectively evaluated, and its benefit must be clearly demonstrated to clinical teachers.