Use of Information Communication Technology Tools Among Nigerian Dental Resident Doctors: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate Information-Communication-Technology (ICT) tools usage among Nigerian dental resident doctors.

Methods: A 68-item electronic questionnaire (Google Forms) retrieved data on participants’ sociodemographic and awareness and use of ICT tools. Retrieved data was analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistic (version 23). Averages were tested for association with t-tests ANOVA and Friedmann’s tests (and their non-parametric equivalents). Post-Hoc analysis was carried out. The level of statistical significance was set at p≤0.05.

Results: A hundred and thirteen residents from 13 teaching hospitals with a 2.3: 1 male: female ratio participated in the study. Participants’ ages ranged from 24 to 48 (34.7±4.5) years. 71.7% of participants were junior residents, while 28.3% were senior residents. 38.9% of participants were from Southwestern institutions, while 39.9% were from Northern institutions. The Southeast and South-south contributed 21.2% of participants. There was poor awareness of learning applications with My Dentist® (29.2%) being the most popular. There was a high awareness level for social media tools with Zoom® and Facebook® having 100% awareness. Biomedical databases were similarly popular with PubMed® having 96.5% awareness and 59.3% frequent users. There was a statistically significant difference in the use of the 3 groups of ICT tools {X2(2, n=113) =208.4, p<0.001. There was a statistically significant difference in biomedical database use between senior and junior residents (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The residents had good awareness of commonly available ICT tools except the medical and dental learning applications. Social media tools were very popular. Biomedical databases were mainly used by the Senior Registrars.