Samoprocjena digitalne pismenosti studenata medicine u Rijeci prije i tijekom pandemije COVID-19.

Aim: To determine the level of digital literacy (DL) before and during the pandemic and determine whether volunteering at the COVID Hospital Center affected DL. Subjects and methods: The study was conducted on 150 clinical year students of the Integrated undergraduate and graduate University Study of Medicine in the academic year 2020/2021 at the University of Rijeka. The study included 114 female and 35 male participants, 22 to 28 years old (a median of 24). Fifty-six students volunteered during online/hybrid teaching in the COVID hospital or/and COVID Call Center. Students anonymously and voluntarily completed an online questionnaire. Results: The respondents reported the level of their DL before the pandemic as 3.81 (SD=0.89) and during the pandemics 4.07 (SD=0.84). Respondents predominantly considered that new teaching methods did not affect their DL level. T-test confirmed that in comparison to the pre-pandemic period, during the pandemics, students observed an improvement in their DL levels (P>0.05). When divided into groups of volunteer and non-volunteer students, there is statistical significance in the improvement of DL in students who volunteered during the pandemics (P=0.038), while in the group of non-volunteer students, there wasn’t significant change (P=0.06). Conclusion: The results of the conducted study revealed a rise in the levels of self-evaluated DL, but students don’t connect it with new online teaching methods. On the other hand, there’s a significant rise in DL levels in the student group that volunteered during the pandemics instead of those who didn’t volunteer. Aim: To determine the level of digital literacy (DL) before and during the pandemic and determine whether volunteering at the COVID Hospital Center affected DL. Subjects and methods: The study was conducted on 150 clinical year students of the Integrated undergraduate and graduate University Study of Medicine in the academic year 2020/2021 at the University of Rijeka. The study included 114 female and 35 male participants, 22 to 28 years old (a median of 24). Fifty-six students volunteered during online/hybrid teaching in the COVID hospital or/and COVID Call Center. Students anonymously and voluntarily completed an online questionnaire. Results: The respondents reported the level of their DL before the pandemic as 3.81 (SD=0.89) and during the pandemics 4.07 (SD=0.84). Respondents predominantly considered that new teaching methods did not affect their DL level. T-test confirmed that in comparison to the pre-pandemic period, during the pandemics, students observed an improvement in their DL levels (P>0.05). When divided into groups of volunteer and non-volunteer students, there is statistical significance in the improvement of DL in students who volunteered during the pandemics (P=0.038), while in the group of non-volunteer students, there wasn’t significant change (P=0.06). Conclusion: The results of the conducted study revealed a rise in the levels of self-evaluated DL, but students don’t connect it with new online teaching methods. On the other hand, there’s a significant rise in DL levels in the student group that volunteered during the pandemics instead of those who didn’t volunteer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]