Table 1. Participants’ demographics.
Parameters were evaluated for statistically significant differences by either Fisher’s exact test or Mann Whitney U test#, respectively.
| Parameter | Total | Control | Tablet | P Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 55 | N = 31 | N = 24 | ||
| Gender [n / %] | ||||
| • Male | 20 / 36.4 | 8 / 25.8 | 12 / 50 | 0.091 |
| • Female | 35 / 63.6 | 23 / 74.2 | 12 / 50 | |
| Age | ||||
| • Median [IQR] | 28 (27–29) | 28 (27–29) | 28 (26–30) | 0.742# |
| Nationality [n / %] | ||||
| • German | 50 / 90.9 | 29 / 93.5 | 21 / 87.5 | 0.643 |
| • other | 5 / 9.1 | 2 / 6.5 | 3 / 12.5 | |
| Education Level [n / %] | ||||
| • Student | 36 / 65.5 | 21 / 67.7 | 15 / 62.5 | 0.778 |
| • Resident | 19 / 34.5 | 10 / 32.3 | 9 / 37.5 | |
| Exposure to foreign medical education | ||||
| Familiar with USMLE® Exam [n / %] | 39 / 70.9 | 23 / 74.2 | 16 / 66.7 | 0.565 |
| Received training in a foreign country [no. / %] | 23 / 41.8 | 14 / 45.2 | 9 / 37.5 | 0.595 |
| Received training in the US [n / %] | 3 / 5.5 | 1 / 3.2 | 2 / 8.3 | 0.575 |
| Computer affinity | ||||
| Number of computers owned | ||||
| Median [IQR] | 1(1–2) | 1(1–2) | 1(1–2) | 0.262# |
| Current computer type in use [no. / %] | ||||
| • Desktop only | 0.152 | |||
| • Notebook/Laptop only | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| • Both desktop and notebook/laptop | 26 / 47.3 | 12 / 38.7 | 14 / 58.3 | |
| 29 / 52.7 | 19 / 61.3 | 10 / 41.7 | ||
| Portable computer knowledge [no. / %] | ||||
| • Tablet PC | ||||
| Knows it | 28 / 50.9 | 15 /48.4 | 13 / 54.2 | 0.787 |
| Uses it | 1 / 1.8 | 0 | 1 / 4.2 | 0.436 |
| • Palm or other PDA usage | 4 / 7.3 | 2 / 6.5 | 2 / 8.3 | 0.79 |
| 13 / 23.6 | 8 / 25.8 | 5 / 20.8 | 0.756 | |
| Main computer usage location [no. / %] | ||||
| • Home | ||||
| • Work | 53 / 96.4 | 31 / 100 | 22 / 91.7 | 0.186 |
| • Campus | 44 / 80.0 | 25 / 80.6 | 19 / 79.2 | 0.892 |
| 13 / 23.6 | 7 / 22.6 | 6 / 25.0 | 0.834 | |
| Current exposure to eLearning | ||||
| Years of eLearning experience Median [IQR] | 1.0 (0.5–1.3) | 1.0 (0.5–1.0) | 0.8 (0.0–1.7) | 0.444# |
| eBook Collection [no. / %] | ||||
| • Knows eBook collection | 7 / 12.7 | 3 / 9.7 | 4 / 16.7 | 0.686 |
| • Uses eBook collection | 11 / 20.0 | 4 / 12.9 | 7 / 29.2 | 0.18 |
| • Subscribed to eBooks | 16 / 29.1 | 10 / 32.3 | 6 / 25.0 | 0.765 |
| Resources used for problem solving [no. / %] | ||||
| • Article | ||||
| • Book catalogue | 40 / 72.7 | 27 / 87.1 | 13 / 54.2 | 0.138 |
| • Virtual Library | 37 / 67.3 | 27 / 87.1 | 10 / 41.7 | |
| • eBook | 27 / 49.1 | 21 / 67.7 | 6 / 25.0 | |
| • eLearning | 12 / 21.8 | 6 / 19.4 | 6 / 25.0 | |
| • Other resource | 9 / 16.4 | 7 / 22.6 | 2 / 8.3 | |
| • No resources | 1 / 1.8 | 1 / 3.2 | 0 | |
| 11 / 20.0 | 4 / 12.9 | 7 / 29.2 | ||
| Search Engine used for problem solving [no. / %] | ||||
| • Pubmed | 48 / 87.3 | 29 / 93.5 | 19 / 79.2 | 0.22 |
| • Wikipedia | 54 / 98.2 | 31 / 100 | 23 / 95.8 | 0.436 |
| • Other Search Engine | 26 / 47.3 | 14 / 45.2 | 12 / 50.0 | 0.789 |
| 17 / 30.9 | 13 / 41.9 | 4 / 16.7 | 0.716 | |
| Self-rated internal medicine knowledge | ||||
| Rating [n / %] | ||||
| • Excellent | 1 / 1.8 | 1 / 3.2 | 0 / 0 | 0.392 |
| • Good | 19 / 34.5 | 11 / 35.5 | 8 / 33.3 | |
| • Passable | 31 / 56.4 | 18 / 58.1 | 13 / 54.2 | |
| • Adequate | 4 / 7.3 | 1 / 3.2 | 3 / 12.5 | |
| • Failure | 0 / 0 | 0 /0 | 0 / 0 |