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Computer and Internet Use among Tertiary Healthcare Providers and Trainees in a Nigerian Public Hospital

Received: 24 October 2014     Accepted: 27 October 2014     Published: 31 October 2014
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Abstract

The Nigerian healthcare system is characterized with paper-based health information management systems and grossly inadequate IT-skilled healthcare providers. Nonetheless, the emerging digitization and globalization has the potentials to speed up the transformation of the current healthcare systems and revolutionize the provider-consumer relationship between healthcare providers and their teeming patients. This cross-sectional study determined the utilization of computer and the Internet among healthcare providers and trainees in a Nigerian public hospital (n=232). More than half (112, 52 %) of the participants were females and the vast majority (154, 72.3 %) were aged forty years or below with a Mean age of 35 ± 9 years. More than a third (78, 36.6 %) of the participants had used the Internet for over three years and early exposure to computer use did significantly influence (χ2= 3.19; p= 0.00) their current computer use. Updates on professional issues appeared the major reason (98, 46.0 %) for searching the Internet and this was mostly accessed (149, 70.0 %) through cell phone. Google Scholar was the most (154, 72.3 %) deployed search engine and participants were often constrained (93, 43.7 %) to use these technologies by inadequate time due to their busy schedules. For better appreciation of the technologies, participants solicited for further training in health IT. Healthcare providers and trainees at Federal Medical Centre, Bida have good disposition towards computer and Internet use especially to enhance their professional practice and to improve patient care quality. They overwhelmingly indicated interests for further ICT training in order to boost their sources of information for an improved healthcare practice. Any effort made to enrich their sources of information and to enhance their usability of these technologies would be worthwhile.

Published in American Journal of Health Research (Volume 3, Issue 1-1)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Information Technology in Developing Nations: Challenges and Prospects Health Information Technology

DOI 10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11
Page(s) 1-10
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Computerized Patients Records, Health Information Management, Health Information Technology, Internet, Medical Informatics, Personal Health Records, Developing Countries, Nigeria

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Ibrahim Taiwo ADELEKE, Muniru Aderemi ASIRU, Benson Macaulay OWEGHORO, Ahmed Bolakale JIMOH, Ameenah Muhammad NDANA. (2014). Computer and Internet Use among Tertiary Healthcare Providers and Trainees in a Nigerian Public Hospital. American Journal of Health Research, 3(1-1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11

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    ACS Style

    Ibrahim Taiwo ADELEKE; Muniru Aderemi ASIRU; Benson Macaulay OWEGHORO; Ahmed Bolakale JIMOH; Ameenah Muhammad NDANA. Computer and Internet Use among Tertiary Healthcare Providers and Trainees in a Nigerian Public Hospital. Am. J. Health Res. 2014, 3(1-1), 1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11

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    AMA Style

    Ibrahim Taiwo ADELEKE, Muniru Aderemi ASIRU, Benson Macaulay OWEGHORO, Ahmed Bolakale JIMOH, Ameenah Muhammad NDANA. Computer and Internet Use among Tertiary Healthcare Providers and Trainees in a Nigerian Public Hospital. Am J Health Res. 2014;3(1-1):1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11,
      author = {Ibrahim Taiwo ADELEKE and Muniru Aderemi ASIRU and Benson Macaulay OWEGHORO and Ahmed Bolakale JIMOH and Ameenah Muhammad NDANA},
      title = {Computer and Internet Use among Tertiary Healthcare Providers and Trainees in a Nigerian Public Hospital},
      journal = {American Journal of Health Research},
      volume = {3},
      number = {1-1},
      pages = {1-10},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11},
      abstract = {The Nigerian healthcare system is characterized with paper-based health information management systems and grossly inadequate IT-skilled healthcare providers. Nonetheless, the emerging digitization and globalization has the potentials to speed up the transformation of the current healthcare systems and revolutionize the provider-consumer relationship between healthcare providers and their teeming patients. This cross-sectional study determined the utilization of computer and the Internet among healthcare providers and trainees in a Nigerian public hospital (n=232). More than half (112, 52 %) of the participants were females and the vast majority (154, 72.3 %) were aged forty years or below with a Mean age of 35 ± 9 years. More than a third (78, 36.6 %) of the participants had used the Internet for over three years and early exposure to computer use did significantly influence (χ2= 3.19; p= 0.00) their current computer use. Updates on professional issues appeared the major reason (98, 46.0 %) for searching the Internet and this was mostly accessed (149, 70.0 %) through cell phone. Google Scholar was the most (154, 72.3 %) deployed search engine and participants were often constrained (93, 43.7 %) to use these technologies by inadequate time due to their busy schedules. For better appreciation of the technologies, participants solicited for further training in health IT. Healthcare providers and trainees at Federal Medical Centre, Bida have good disposition towards computer and Internet use especially to enhance their professional practice and to improve patient care quality. They overwhelmingly indicated interests for further ICT training in order to boost their sources of information for an improved healthcare practice. Any effort made to enrich their sources of information and to enhance their usability of these technologies would be worthwhile.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Computer and Internet Use among Tertiary Healthcare Providers and Trainees in a Nigerian Public Hospital
    AU  - Ibrahim Taiwo ADELEKE
    AU  - Muniru Aderemi ASIRU
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    AU  - Ahmed Bolakale JIMOH
    AU  - Ameenah Muhammad NDANA
    Y1  - 2014/10/31
    PY  - 2014
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11
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    T2  - American Journal of Health Research
    JF  - American Journal of Health Research
    JO  - American Journal of Health Research
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 10
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8796
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.s.2015030101.11
    AB  - The Nigerian healthcare system is characterized with paper-based health information management systems and grossly inadequate IT-skilled healthcare providers. Nonetheless, the emerging digitization and globalization has the potentials to speed up the transformation of the current healthcare systems and revolutionize the provider-consumer relationship between healthcare providers and their teeming patients. This cross-sectional study determined the utilization of computer and the Internet among healthcare providers and trainees in a Nigerian public hospital (n=232). More than half (112, 52 %) of the participants were females and the vast majority (154, 72.3 %) were aged forty years or below with a Mean age of 35 ± 9 years. More than a third (78, 36.6 %) of the participants had used the Internet for over three years and early exposure to computer use did significantly influence (χ2= 3.19; p= 0.00) their current computer use. Updates on professional issues appeared the major reason (98, 46.0 %) for searching the Internet and this was mostly accessed (149, 70.0 %) through cell phone. Google Scholar was the most (154, 72.3 %) deployed search engine and participants were often constrained (93, 43.7 %) to use these technologies by inadequate time due to their busy schedules. For better appreciation of the technologies, participants solicited for further training in health IT. Healthcare providers and trainees at Federal Medical Centre, Bida have good disposition towards computer and Internet use especially to enhance their professional practice and to improve patient care quality. They overwhelmingly indicated interests for further ICT training in order to boost their sources of information for an improved healthcare practice. Any effort made to enrich their sources of information and to enhance their usability of these technologies would be worthwhile.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 1-1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Health Information, Federal Medical Centre, Bida NIGERIA

  • Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Federal Polytechnic, Bida NIGERIA

  • Department of Library, Archive & Information Studies, University of Ibadan NIGERIA

  • Department of Health Information, Federal Medical Centre, Bida NIGERIA

  • Department of Health Information Management, College of Health Technology, Minna NIGERIA

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