Medical information seeking practices among medical students in Kenya: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: Many medical schools in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have adopted a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. PBL requires medical students to independently access and correctly interpret medical information. There is paucity of information on how students in LMICs retrieve medical information and apply Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) principles. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among medical students in their clinical years at Moi University School of Medicine (MUSOM), a large medical school in Kenya between August and November 2016. Results: Authors analyzed results of 206 clinical year medical students at MUSOM (response rate of 84%). Standard textbooks (47.8%) and lecture slides (20.9%) were the most preferred sources of general medical information. Medscape®, a free mobile medical information application, was the most utilized drug information source. Sources which directly link to primary biomedical literature such as PUBMED and HINARI were used by 14.1% and 7.8% of students respectively. A quiz testing key clinical epidemiology concepts was also performed with a mean score of 49% (SD, 23.8). Conclusion: There is preference for standard textbooks. Low scores on the clinical epidemiology quiz, coupled with most students endorsing limited understanding of key EBM concepts emphasizes the need for broader EBM training.