HOW CAN A UNIVERSITY WEBSITE BOOST MEDICAL EDUCATION

Introduction: To assess if website of a university of medical sciences has been able to meet students medical education needs Methods: This descriptive study was performed on 529 medical and allied students in schools affiliated to Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was developed. Results: Findings indicated that mean score of the study subjects’ attitude towards the web site helps them to correctly understand scientific and health information and helps them to evaluate the validity of information resources related to health issues was 3.42; and towards the web site helps them to insert questions related to health topics within the website and to find their answers was 2.98. There were significant differences (P<0.05) among mean scores of the participants’ attitudes. There were significant relationships among the study subjects’ demographic characteristics and their attitudes. (P<0.05)Conclusion: The present study showed that a university of medical sciences wishing to provide its clients with quality information via website, and obtain high levels of educational success should try to make the website compatible with a great proportion of its users. The present study also showed that both the quality of contents of the website and clients are important in terms of application and methodological considerations.