Medical Informatics and Statistics in an Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum: Survey of Students’ Perception

Abstract

Aim: A survey was conducted in undergraduate medical students enrolled in 3 or 4-year degree programs in Nursing, Midwifery, Radiology and Medical Imaging (technician), Physiotherapy and Kinetotherapy (technician) and Clinical laboratory (technician) in order to identify their perception of the medical informatics and statistics curriculum.

Material and Method: A qualitative study was carried out in 1st year undergraduate students at the “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, Romania during the 2008-2009 academic year. A questionnaire containing 10 categories of items for assessing lectures and 19 for assessing practical activities was developed as an online tool with a database connection using Google Docs.

Results: Students’ attendance to lectures proved not to be statistically related with their final mark. The mean final mark obtained by students (6.02±1.57) proved to be statistically lower compared to the expected mean (6.58±1.23; t = -2.76, DF = 54, p = 0.0078). The teacher, the problems solved during lectures, the lecture summaries as well as the course web page proved to statistically influence the learning process. The results revealed that all students were satisfied with the materials used within lectures and practical activities as well as with the objectiveness of the final evaluation. Most students classified the difficulty of the practical activities as reasonable (p < 0.05) and their pace as just about right (p< 0.05). The overall quality of the practical activities was classified as easy by 13% of respondents, pretty easy by 30%, reasonable by 29%, and difficult by 25%.

Conclusions: Overall, undergraduate students were satisfied with the materials used within lectures and practical activities as well as with the teacher’s attitude and support in the learning process.