iGeneration’s Social media usage in retrieving information related to healthcare education: a web-based survey among Italian and Romanian undergraduate medical students

Abstract

The aim of our study was to assess medical undergraduate student’s preferences associated with the value of information/learning methods via social media. An electronic questionnaire was developed and applied to medical undergraduate students from two university centers: Foggia (Italy) and Cluj-Napoca (Romania). One thousand one hundred ninety-six answers were collected, 326 from the Italian university, and 870 from the Romanian university. Students use smartphones to access Facebook, from home, in average 1-3 hours daily. Along with school bibliography and Internet, social media is an active part of the academic life of students. Social media is used to search information about a specific medical topic or to manage of daily student activities. Romanians frequently share information with other colleagues or search for topics related to courses taught at school. The medical students use social media for academic purposes similarly in Italy and Romania.