title: Evaluation of information literacy status among medical students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The information literacy status and the use of information technology among students in the globalization age of course plans are very momentous. This study aimed to evaluate the information literacy status and use of information technology among medical students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a descriptive-analytical study with cross-sectional method. The study population consisted of all medical students (physiopathology, externship and internship) studying at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The sample size (n=310) was selected by systematic random sampling. The tool of data gathering was LASSI questionnaire (assigned by America research association) with 48 closed items in five-point LIKERT scale. The questionnaire included two distinct parts of demographic questions and the information literacy skills based on the standards of information literacy capacities for academic education. The content validity was acquired by professors' and experts' comments. The reliability was also calculated by Cronbach'salpha (0.85). Data were analyzed in both descriptive (frequency- mean) and analytical level (t-test, analysis of variance) using SPSS 14 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  60.3% of the participants were females, and the remaining (29.7%) were males. The mean score of information literacy and its five subgroups among the students weren't at a desirable level. The mean scores of information literacy for educational grades from the highest to lowest belonged to the internship, physiopathology and externship. The results showed that the highest average was related to the effective access ability to information among interns (9.27±3.57) and the lowest one was related to the ability of understanding legal and economical cases related with using information among externs (3.11±1.32).The results of ANOVA showed that there wasn't a significant difference between educational grades and information literacy. Finally, the result of independent t-test did not show a significant difference between the two genders in information literacy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regarding the importance of information literacy for medical students and undesirable status of information literacy among students, the current educational plans will need to be revised.
authors.affiliation: Quality Improvement in Clinical Education Research Center, Education Development Center, Shiraz University of medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bazrafkan
authors.affiliation: Quality Improvement in Clinical Education Research Center, Education Development Center, Shiraz University of medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Asghar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hayat
authors.affiliation: Quality Improvement in Clinical Education Research Center, Education Development Center, Shiraz University of medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Shiraz University of medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Aghdas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bazrafkan
authors.affiliation: Shiraz University of medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Azadeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rohalamini
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Economics Research Center, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mozhgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fardid
keywords:  Information siteracy ;  Medical informatics;  Technology; Medical students 