Computing and information technology skills of final year medical and dental students at the College of Medicine University of Lagos.

This study was conducted to determine awareness, level of use of computers and the use of the Internet for medical research amongst final year medical and dental students at the University of Lagos. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A response rate of 88% was achieved (136/155). Eighty per cent had used the computer before. Use of software applications was poor with computer games being the most frequently used (19%) followed by word processing softwares (18%). The Internet and electronic mail had been used by 58% but only 23% had used the Internet for medical research. Twenty-one percent classified themselves as proficient on the computer, 59% had little skills and 20% had no skills. Younger students (age less than 26 years) were found to have significantly better skills than older colleagues (p = 004). Majority of final year students at College of Medicine, University of Lagos have little computing skills.