Trends in Medical Student Computing: Five Years of Entry Data and Subsequent Performance in the Basic Sciences

摘要

Students entering the University of Washington School of Medicine have been surveyed annually since 1984 regarding their access to personal computers and the level of computing skills which they possess. Results of these investigations document that student access to personal computers has risen from 23% of the entering class of 1984 to 68% of the entering class of 1988; ownership of personal computers has risen from 7% to 28% and the proportion of entering students with programming skills has decreased from 52% to 42%. Subsequent performance in the basic science segment of the medical school curriculum demonstrates no statistically significant differences between the various categories of students.