title: Evaluation of a Biomedical Informatics course for medical students: a pre-posttest study at UNAM Faculty of Medicine in Mexico.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biomedical Informatics (BMI) education in medical schools is developing a sound curricular base, but there are few published reports of their educational usefulness. The goal of this paper is to assess knowledge change and satisfaction in medical students after a BMI curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Autonomous University of México Faculty of Medicine (UNAM) recently implemented a curricular reform that includes two BMI sequential courses (BMI-1 and BMI-2). The research design was one-group pretest-posttest. An objective test with evidence of validity was used for knowledge measurement. A satisfaction questionnaire was applied at the end of the courses. Two-tailed paired Student's t-tests were applied, comparing knowledge scores in the pre and post-test for each course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included student cohorts during two consecutive academic years. The 2013 BMI-1 course (n = 986 students) knowledge pretest score was 43.0 ± 8.6 (mean percent correct ± SD), and the post-test score was 57.7 ± 10.3 (p < 0.001); the 2014 BMI-1 (n = 907) pretest score was 43.7 ± 8.5, and the post-test was 58.1 ± 10.5 (p < 0.001). The 2012 BMI-2 course (n = 683) pretest score was 26.3 ± 7.9, the post-test score was 44.3 ± 13.3 (p < 0.001); the 2013 BMI-2 (n = 926) pretest score was 27.5 ± 7.5, and the post-test was 42.0 ± 11.0 (p < 0.001). The overall opinion of the students regarding the course was from good to excellent, with a response rate higher than 90%. The satisfaction questionnaires had high reliability (Cronbach's alpha of 0.93).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study shows a significant increase in BMI knowledge after an educational intervention in four medical student cohorts, and an overall positive evaluation by the students. Long-term follow-up is needed, as well as controlled studies of BMI educational interventions using performance endpoints.
authors.affiliation: UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Secretariat of Medical Education, Ave. Universidad 3000 C.U., México, D.F., 04510, Mexico. melchorsm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Melchor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Mendiola
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Ave. Universidad 3000, C.U., México, D.F., 04510, Mexico. adrianfile@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adrián I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Martínez-Franco
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Ave. Universidad 3000, C.U., México, D.F., 04510, Mexico. marlettaeva@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marlette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lobato-Valverde
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Ave. Universidad 3000, C.U., México, D.F., 04510, Mexico. fab@ieee.org.
authors.forename: Fabián
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernández-Saldívar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Ave. Universidad 3000, C.U., México, D.F., 04510, Mexico. taniavives@yahoo.com.mx.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vives-Varela
authors.affiliation: UNAM Faculty of Medicine, Secretariat of Medical Education, Ave. Universidad 3000 C.U., México, D.F., 04510, Mexico. adrianmartinez38@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adrián
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-González
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003479:Curriculum; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003906:Developing Countries; D004501:Education, Medical; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000193:education*; D008800:Mexico; D017145:Models, Educational; D055815:Young Adult