Use of internet in

Medical Studies
Dr R K Pal, Professor,
Dr. Shweta Goswami, Assistant
Professor
Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Reasons to
Introduce
Internet in
Medical
Education
 All Medical students and Doctors use Smart Phones

More than half of students and doctors use Medical Apps [1]

87% of doctors use a tablet or mobile device in their clinical environment. [2]

1. https://www.gallaghermalpractice.com/blog/post/the-23-best-medical-apps-for-doctors
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029126/
 Students are using Smartphones for Learning Medicine

5 lac students use Marrow & Prepladder

1 in 4 preclinical students watches educational videos — like those on YouTube

— on a daily basis. [3]

3. https://www.statnews.com/2018/08/14/medical-students-skipping-class/
Healthcare and medical training
have no immunity to universal,
rapidly changing technology.
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
• Internet usage or knowledge of internet is almost 100%.
• Usage mainly for non-academic purposes - 55% like mailing ,gaming and social networking ,
this leads to loss in their study schedules or time as well as wastage of time is also there
because of non-focused approach as well as diversity of knowledge at net on a particular topic.
• On the other hand students with a focused approach go deep in subject who primarily use
internet for academics are 35% and do not waste time because of proper management of time ,
focus of search areas and avoiding the social networking sites to minimum and if connecting
that too in idle time.
• Psychological issues ranging from mood swings to altered behavior, withdrawn attitude and
loneliness has been reported by those who have been using internet mainly for social
networking and mailing, because they remain in some sort of virtual world of net. They are
using net 16 to 22 hours on an average basis, with a range of 6to 38hrs weekly usage, for
academic purposes 6 to 16 hrs were used on net on average in a week, while for other activities
14 to 34 hrs per week were used at net.
• Net has become an integral part of today’s life but should be used as a tool for communication
and acquirement of knowledge but not as habit forming addiction.
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Learning Objectives
• Discuss the potentials of internet in medical
education
– Reputed Websites for Medical Information
– Different electronic sources of medical
information
– Professional use of social media

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Common search engines
Google
Yahoo
Bing
AOL.com
Baidu – Popular in China
Yandex.ru – Popular in China
DuckDuckGo – Does not track you.
 Objective 1

Reputed Websites for Medical Information

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Website of ESIC

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Websites of ESIC
https://www.esic.nic.in (See MENU on Left top corner - for
8 focus areas including health services, education, student
zone etc.)
Under the health services tab stated above you can find –
Medical education institutions – Medical colleges –
Haryana – ESIC Medical college Faridabad- Menu on right
below “ESIC logo” – ESIC Services – including Services,
Information & Announcement.

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Website of our College

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
Indian Government websites :
https://mohfw.gov.in (Go to MENU at right top
corner- Programmes)
www.nhsrcindia.org(scroll down- to see 8 focus areas)
https://nhm.gov.in (scroll down to see – News &
Highlights, in Focus & important links)
www.nrhmharyana.gov.in (see at horizontal topline –
tabs of links - About NHM, Programmes & others)
https://dghs.gov.in (scroll down to see – links for 16
divisions including T.B., Leprosy, Public Health etc.)
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
Indian Government websites :
Censusindia.gov.in (scroll down to see 8 links about
population data of India for census 2011)
http://censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/SRS/ (see
MENU on left margin – scroll down to see 10 focus
areas including SRS, Birth & Death registration etc.)
http://rchiips.org (National Family Health Survey- see
MENU on left margin for latest family health
statistics –11 focus areas including - About NFHS,
NFHS 5, NFHS 4 etc.)
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
International websites for information about India:
www.searo.who.int (Go to MENU at left top corner- to
see 5 links including Home, health topics etc.)
http://unicef.in (scroll down- to see 4 latest focus
areas)
https://www.unaids.org (Go to MENU at right top
corner- to see 6 links including Program areas,
where we work etc.)
https://www.usaid.gov (scroll down- to see 4 latest
focus areas)
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
International websites for information about
Medical field:
www.who.int (Go to MENU at left top corner- to see 5 links
including Home, health topics etc.)
https://www.webmd.com (Go to MENU at left top corner- to
see 11 links including Health A to Z, Drugs & supplements,
Living healthy etc.)
https://www.cdc.gov (scroll down to see – information on
important public health areas.
https://openmd.com (write your search topic in box and press
enter)
https://welch.jhmi.edu (write your search topic in box and
press enter to searchDr R from Johns
K Pal, Professor, CommunityHopkins
Medicine university Library)
 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
Websites for information about symptoms, diagnosis
& treatment of diseases:
https://speciality.medicaldialogues.in (scroll down- to
see top stories from medicine this week)
https://www.drugs.com
https://www.1mg.com
https://www.practo.com
https://www.webmd.com
https://www.medscape.com
https://www.medicines.org.uk
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
websites for news & Views for health care
professionals in India:
https://medicaldialogues.in
https://curofy.com (See MENU on topline – for focus areas
– Discuss, News, Quiz etc.)
www.ima-india.org (scroll down to see focus areas of
Indian Medical Association)
https://www.mciindia.org (scroll down to see focus areas
of Medical Council of India for – Medical Colleges, Medical
students & Teachers)
https://nabh.co (See MENU on right top corner - for focus
areas – Quality, Certification & Best
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community practices for Hospitals)
Medicine
 Reputed Websites for Medical Information
Websites for Research Studies in Medical field:
https://www.researchgate.net (See MENU with
Alphabets on topline or scroll down to select topic
of your interest.)
https://www.icmr.nic.in (scroll down to see 4 main
focus areas.)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (U.S. National Library
of Medicine also referred as pubmed)
http://extranet.who.int/hinari/en/journals.php (scroll
down to see 7 focus areas.)
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Medical Information Websites

Organization Website Address

Google Search http://www.google.com/
WHO International http://www.who.int/en/
WHO Regional Office for http://www.afro.who.int/
AFRICA
WHO Regional Office for http://www.emro.who.int/
Mediterranean Region
WHO South East Asia Regional http://www.searo.who.int/
Office
Centre for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/
Atlanta, USA
The Free Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/
Dr R K Pal, Prof Community Medicine, Al
Fateh Med Univ. Tripoli, Liibya
 Medical Information Websites -continued
Organization Website Address
Sample Registration System http://censusindia.gov.in/vital_statis
tics/SRS_Bulletins/Bulletins.html
Indian Census www.censusindia.gov.in/vital_statisti
cs/SRS Report/

Medscape http://www.medscape.org/
NRHM http://nrhm.gov.in/

MOHFW India www.Mohfw.nic.in/

CBHI cbhidghs.nic.in/

State Health Department Delhi http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/c

onnect/doit_health/Health/Home/Fa
mily+Welfare/
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Objective 2

Different electronic sources of

medical information

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

• Software apps
Medscape
BNF
Prognosis
UpToDate
Micromedex
Google
Wikipedia
Pubmed
• e-books
• Clinical guidelines
• Journals
• Others
– Power point presentations of lectures
– Online information through web search
– Online puzzles
Professional use of social media

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Ten years and a seismic shift
Huge benefits to using social media in your
medical career
should you choose to do so

Definite downsides and significant risks

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

“You are learning medicine in an era when social
media, the Internet, digital care and mobile apps
are becoming increasingly interconnected"

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

NRS MEDICAL COLLEGE, KOLKATA

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

The power of social media

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 What are/is social media
Internet-based tools that allow individuals and
communities
• to gather and communicate;
• to share information, ideas, personal
messages, images, and other content; and,
• in some cases, to collaborate with other users
in real time

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Social media sites
• Social networking (Facebook, MySpace,
Google Plus, Twitter)
• Professional networking (LinkedIn)
• Media sharing (YouTube, Flickr)
• Content production (blogs [Tumblr, Blogger]
and microblogs [Twitter])
• Knowledge/information aggregation
(Wikipedia)
• Virtual reality and gaming environments
(Second Life)Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Using social media in medical
school
• Professional Networking
– Build network for future career
– Follow discussion forums on medical education
– Blog about your experiences
– Develop your list of people, journals and other
accounts to follow
– Watch and engage medical community
• Professional Education

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Using social media in medical
school
• Organizational Promotion
• Patient Education
• Public Health Programs

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
• As already done by senior batches - You can
make whats app chat group of your class &
inform your teachers – to get important
information and circulars faster, in addition to
looking at notice boards of different
departments.

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

On whats app You can also share pictures of your
activities with your Friends & Family
Advantages Barriers
• quick access to medical • unreliability of medical
information anywhere and information
anytime • fear of getting addicted to
• being convenient to use at social networking
the clinical settings • getting distracted from
studies

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

False & misleading information on Internet

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Publicity & Marketing Stunts
RO WATER - A THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH
World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Issues Unequivocal
Warning that Reverse Osmosis Water is bad for your health.
RO WATER - A THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH
The best Drinking Water has to be CLEAN (Contaminants
Removed) & HEALTHY (Full of Energy).
SAY NO TO RO WATER
GRAPHENE - BEST ALTERNATIVE - 21st Century Graphene based
Water Filters
WATER FOR LIFE
Water Freedom Revolution Worldwide
 Publicity & Marketing Stunts
STATEMENT OF ABSOLUTE TRUTH

That the water from RO, RO+UV+UF, UV

+UF and Bromine + Carbon filters , is
not safe for human consumption .
Without an iota of doubt, the water
filters based upon RO, UV, UF and
Bromine Technologies unscrupulously
carry the concealed tag of KILLER
FILTERS.
 The Facts
• Labelling all filters as Killer Filters is not true.
• Criticism of Reverse Osmosis is true about depleting
water from total dissolved solids to a large extent.
• U.V. Filters & Ceramic filters coated with silver &
Bleach are being used since many years to remove
bacteria from water.
• R.O. Filter can also be adjusted for keeping TDS
between 300 to 600.
• Our success depends on do we take initiative to get
our R.O. Machines adjusted, Abandon them or keep
all this information at discussion level only.
Useful & Innovative information on
Internet

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Useful & Innovative information on
Internet

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

 Some common features of fake &
misleading sites & companies
• Big & unrealistic claims
• Often Quote names of reputed organizations (but
do not give detailed references) & try to copy
design of their websites.
• Try to copy web address of reputed organizations
with minor change from real address.
• Often have spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Have short time offers and in a hurry to sell.
• Often quote satisfied customers but do not
specify their full address & phone Nos.
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Some common features of fake &
misleading Research studies
• Big & unrealistic observations.
• Often Quote names of reputed organizations, but
do not give detailed references.
• Try to hide sample size, method of study and
exact contact details of place of study &
researchers.
• Often promote a test, equipment, drug or method
of treatment as the best with no comparable
options.
• Often there is a conflict of interest – linking
researcher with company or product.
Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
 Are You Internet User or Addict
• Do You find that you
– Can’t stay continuously for more than 1 hour without
checking your smart phone.
– Keep checking for social media & messages even
while eating & talking to friends & family.
– Find the internet as only option to pass time, as it
has replaced your hobbies, exercise, real sports with
video games & real life friends with chat friends.
– Are loosing touch with your family and people
around you.

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine
Useful & Innovative information on
Internet

Dr R K Pal, Professor, Community Medicine

Do you feel you have come a long way

Dr R K Pal, Prof Community Medicine, Al

Fateh Med Univ. Tripoli, Liibya
Do you feel clouds of confusion are
still there

Dr R K Pal, Prof Community Medicine, Al

Fateh Med Univ. Tripoli, Liibya