Use of information technologies by medical students at the Guantanamo University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: Information technologies have become a challenge for medical education. Objective: To describe the use of information technologies by medical students at the Guantánamo University of Medical Sciences. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out. The universe was made up of 384 second-year medical students, the sample was 94 by simple random sampling. Variables were defined such as: gender, social networks used, most frequent social network, use given to social networks, access device, use of the virtual classroom. For the collection of information, a questionnaire was designed and validated using expert criteria. The results were presented in tables by numbers and percentages. Ethical principles were respected. Results: 91.5% use WhatsApp, 71.3% of females and 20.2% of males, 72.3% of them and 22.3% of them use social networks to exchange messages. , for academic purposes only 51.1% and 6.3% respectively. WhatsApp was the most frequently used social network (86), 100% used the mobile phone. The virtual classroom is used by 53 (56%), 32 do not because they do not know how to enter. Conclusions: Whatsapp is the most used social network for the exchange of messages and very little for academic purposes, most use the mobile phone and less than half use the virtual classroom.