The use of medical and drug information software programs for personal digital assistants among pharmacy students in a Malaysian pharmacy school

Elsayed, Tarek Mohamed Ali and Jamshed, Shazia Qasim and Elkalmi, Ramadan Mohamed Mahmod (2015) The use of medical and drug information software programs for personal digital assistants among pharmacy students in a Malaysian pharmacy school. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 7. pp. 484-491. ISSN 1877-1297

PDF - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (351kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Background The use of medical and drug information software programs for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) is increasing. The technological advances in recent years may have prompted this increase. Many studies have been conducted in developed countries about the use of PDAs among health care professionals and medical and pharmacy students, but similar studies in developing countries are lacking. Objectives To explore the use of medical software programs for PDA among pharmacy students in their clinical clerkships as well as barriers and facilitators to PDA use. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional, exploratory study was conducted. A 56-item face- and content-validated, self-administered, and anonymous questionnaire was distributed to the students in the third and fourth years of a pharmacy program at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Results The response rate was 84.8%. The majority of respondents reported using PDAs (64.1%) and medical/drug information software programs for PDAs (61.5%). Android was the operating system used by the majority of PDAs users (87.5%), and free download websites were the most used source for these programs (93.1%). Micromedex was the most commonly used software (66.7%). PDA cost is the major barrier to use (chosen as barrier by 77.8% of the non-users). Conclusion Pharmacy students use medical software programs for PDAs for many clinical tasks and the devices were perceived positively by students who do not use PDAs. The acquisition of a PDA is the major determinant of medical software PDA programs use because of the availability of free versions of these software programs.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	6743/43261
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Drug information; PDAs; Students; Malaysia; Medical apps
Subjects:	R Medicine > RS Pharmacy and materia medica
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Pharmacy > Department of Pharmacy Practice
Depositing User:	Dr. RAMADAN ELKALMI
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2015 09:53
Last Modified:	20 Jun 2017 08:42
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/43261

Actions (login required)

View Item