Clinicians and computers: friends or foes?
BACKGROUND
Computer-aided learning is accepted by students as a learning resource, but the views of the teaching community are largely unknown.


OBJECTIVE
To document clinicians' experience with computers and to record their attitudes toward computer usage in clinical practice and student education.


METHODS
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.


RESULTS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
University of Adelaide Medical School, Adelaide, South Australia.
A
A
Polyakov
E
E
Palmer
P G
PG
Devitt
B J
BJ
Coventry
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D003201:Computers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003479:Curriculum; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004501:Education, Medical; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors