Attitudes towards Applied Technology in Healthcare amongst Medical Trainees: Insights from a Single-Institution Survey

Objective: Given the rapid growth of digital health, training in healthcare technology principles amongst medical trainees is critical for improved patient care and future digital innovation. To better understand the need for training in certain principles in healthcare technology by assessing current interest in this area amongst a cohort of medical trainees at different stages of their education and in different disciplines (MD students, MD/PhD (MSTP) students, residents, fellows, graduate/PhD students, and postdocs).

Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of medical trainees at a large, quaternary academic institution. Participant characteristic data was collected and descriptive statistics were generated to evaluate the association between trainee type, gender, and the year the survey was taken (2020 or Q4 2021), with metrics of interest.

Results: Analysis of 156 respondents showed residents/fellows preferred topical lectures as compared to graduate students/postdocs (75.0% yes versus 39.0% yes, p<.05), while graduate students/postdocs preferred intensive workshops as compared to residents/fellows (75.6% yes, 29.2% yes, p<.05). MD/MSTP students were more interested in a longitudinal curriculum than graduate students/postdocs (74.7% yes, 31.7% yes, p<.05). MD/MSTP students were more interested in product company creation than residents/fellows (36.3% yes, 0.0% yes, p<.05).

Discussion: The results of this study highlight the different interests across the multidisciplinary healthcare and innovation team. Each group of students has varied interests in training topics and delivery modality.

Conclusion: Our study findings support the call for structured integration of healthcare technology training into the curriculum for medical trainees and increased programming at all levels of training.