Abstract

ALMEIDA CAMPOS, Santiago; BOLANOS RUIZ, Odalys  and  ACOSTA BOLANOS, Lidiet. Informational competencies among graduates from the Medical Sciences University of Matanzas. Rev. cuba. inf. cienc. salud [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.4, pp. 389-401. ISSN 2307-2113.

Introduction: medical graduates are expected to have acquired the informational competencies required to search, collect, organize and interpret biomedical and health information contained in a variety of databases and sources. In Cuba the main source of information for the health system is the Infomed network. Objectives: determine whether there is an availability of information resources in the Infomed network and whether doctors and dentists just graduated from the Medical Sciences University of Matanzas have acquired the informational competencies required to use them. Methods: a survey was conducted with 35 newly graduated doctors and dentists starting their professional life. A search for medical databases and services available in Infomed was also carried out. Results: Infomed offers a large number of information resources about human health. Such information may be accessed from any computer in the national health system. However, more than half of the newly graduated doctors and dentists surveyed stated that they do not use the network. The resources available in Infomed are scarcely used and only some are used by the survey respondents. This may be due to limited access to the network or insufficient knowledge. It could also be that their teachers and supervisors did not suggest or demand the use of the network. Conclusions: actions aimed at developing informational competencies among graduates should be improved and increased at the Medical Sciences University of Matanzas.

Keywords : medical education; competency-based education; informational literacy.

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