Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt.
Clinical Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Mar 4;24(1):233. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05216-5.
COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift toward e-learning, particularly in medical education. Mobile medical applications (apps) have become integral tools for e-learning due to the prevalence of smartphones among medical students. Therefore, we aim to assess the usage and attitude of undergraduate Egyptian medical students towards mobile medical apps during and after the COVID-19 lockdown.
This is a two-phase repeated cross-sectional study using an online, pilot-tested, and self-administered survey conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Egypt. Phase 1 was during the academic year 2019-2020 (during lockdown), and phase 2 was during the academic year 2021-2022 (after lockdown). Out of the 4800-target population for each phase, a sample size of 140 medical students was randomly selected from each study year, resulting in a total sample size of 840 students for all six academic and clinical years for each phase.
A total of 566 students in phase 1 and 616 students in phase 2 responded to the survey, with response rates of 67.62% and 73.33%, respectively. In phase 1, 55.7% of students reported using medical apps, with no significant difference between males and females (60.1% vs. 53.8%; p = 0.17) or between academic and clinical years (56.3% vs. 54.7%; p = 0.7). In phase 2, the percentage increased to 70.9%, with a significant difference between males and females (80% vs. 62.9%; p < 0.001) and between academic and clinical years (79.8% vs. 63%; p < 0.001). Medical dictionaries were the most commonly used apps, whereas medical calculators were the least common in both phases. Regarding their attitude, most students (65.1% and 73.9% in phases 1 and 2, respectively) expressed confidence in using medical apps, while 81.3% in phase 1 and 88.1% in phase 2 agreed that using medical apps is a flexible method of learning. Lack of knowledge regarding which app to download was the most reported cause of limitation in medical app usage by 37.8% of the students in phase 1 and 40% in phase 2.
Our study revealed that the COVID-19 lockdown led to a significant increase in the use of mobile medical apps among Egyptian medical students. Despite the positive attitude of students towards these apps, multiple challenges still need to be addressed to ensure their optimal utilization in medical education.
COVID-19 大流行加速了电子学习的转变，尤其是在医学教育领域。由于智能手机在医学生中普及，移动医疗应用程序（apps）已成为电子学习的重要工具。因此，我们旨在评估埃及医学生在 COVID-19 封锁期间和之后对移动医疗应用程序的使用和态度。
这是一项在埃及曼努菲亚大学医学院进行的两阶段重复横断面研究，使用在线预试验和自我管理调查。第一阶段是在 2019-2020 学年（封锁期间），第二阶段是在 2021-2022 学年（封锁后）。每个阶段的目标人群为 4800 人，从每个研究年份中随机抽取 140 名医学生作为样本，每个阶段的总样本量为 840 名学生，涵盖所有六个学术和临床学年。
第一阶段有 566 名学生和第二阶段有 616 名学生对调查做出了回应，回应率分别为 67.62%和 73.33%。在第一阶段，55.7%的学生报告使用了医疗应用程序，男性和女性之间（60.1%对 53.8%；p=0.17）或学术和临床年份之间（56.3%对 54.7%；p=0.7）没有显著差异。在第二阶段，这一比例上升到 70.9%，男性和女性之间（80%对 62.9%；p<0.001）以及学术和临床年份之间（79.8%对 63%；p<0.001）有显著差异。医学词典是最常用的应用程序，而医学计算器在两个阶段都是最不常见的。关于他们的态度，大多数学生（第一阶段和第二阶段分别为 65.1%和 73.9%）对使用医疗应用程序表示有信心，而第一阶段有 81.3%和第二阶段有 88.1%的学生同意使用医疗应用程序是一种灵活的学习方法。第一阶段有 37.8%的学生和第二阶段有 40%的学生表示，缺乏关于下载哪个应用程序的知识是限制医疗应用程序使用的最主要原因。
我们的研究表明，COVID-19 封锁导致埃及医学生对移动医疗应用程序的使用显著增加。尽管学生对这些应用程序持积极态度，但仍需要解决多个挑战，以确保它们在医学教育中的最佳利用。
