Electronic Health Literacy Skills among Medical and Dental Interns at B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences

Abstract

Background: Appropriate use of the available electronic resources is important for decision making in health. The use
of electronic resources in health care is universal. The study measures the eHealth literacy skills among the medical and
dental interns of the B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Nepal.
Methods: Self administered electronic Health Literacy Scale (eHEALS) was used to collect data from 125 medical and
dental interns at BPKIHS. The interns represent immediate past medical student and soon to be professional doctor.
Results: A quarter of interns are not sure about the usefulness of internet resources for health. The interns have limited
knowledge about right resources in the internet. They are not equipped to tell useful resources from the not-useful
ones in the internet.
Conclusions: There is a need to pay attention to the eHealth Literacy needs of the interns. Further research may be
needed to generate evidence on what interventions may be specific to meet the ehealth literacy needs of the medical
and dental interns.
Keywords: e-Health Literacy; electronic resources in health; health information technology; health literacy in Nepal;
health literacy of intern.