Senior dental student's utilization and self-reported skills of information technology (IT)

Background Given that one of the targets of Global oral health care goals in 2020 is to increase the proportion of the population covered by health care information systems, the future dentists should be more oriented about Information Technology (IT) to help the health systems in reaching this goal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utilization of IT among senior dental students and to evaluate the association of self-reported skills with utilization of IT. Methods The target population comprised senior dental students of all four dental schools of Tehran City in 2015. An anonymous selfadministered questionnaire queried their utilization of IT in four areas: general use of computers, general use of internet, professional use of computers, and professional use of internet. In addition, the students self-reported IT skill was obtained in two areas: internet searching skills and computer using skills. Background questions were also asked. Results Totally, 218 questionnaires out of 250 were returned for an overall response rate of 85%. The students' mean score for professional usage of computer was 15.3 (+/- 4.2) out of 30 and for professional usage of internet 10.8 (+/- 3.1) out of 20. The mean score for general usage of computers was 22.6 (+/- 5.4) out of 40 and for general usage of internet 46.1 (+/- 13.2) of 80. About computer skills, a mean of 18.6 (+/- 4) out of 28 and internet searching skills a mean of 15.3 (+/- 4) out of 24 was acquired. The linear regression model revealed that older student (regression coefficients = 0.325, P = 0.001) and those with higher computer using skills (regression coefficients = 0.223, P = 0.031) and internet searching skills (regression coefficients = 0.220, P = 0.027) obtained higher scores in general usage of IT. Also higher research experience gained was associated with higher scores in professional usage of IT (regression coefficients = -0.378, P = 0.02). Conclusion IT utilization and skills were not desirable in present students. The fact that IT skills were associated with a higher IT utilization regardless of other background factors casts light on the importance of training to facilitate full utilization.