Assessment of attitude towards e-professionalism: Students' perspectives from a Private Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan.

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the social media practices and attitudes towards e-professionalism among undergraduate medical students in a medical college of Pakistan.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 220 undergraduate medical students from 2^nd to final-year MBBS, at CMH Lahore Medical College from March to August 2022. After ethical approval, a printed questionnaire was distributed among students, selected by stratified random sampling technique. Data on demographics, social media usage, and attitudes toward e-professionalism was collected using the pre-validated SMePROF scale. Chi-squared, Fisher's exact test, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the results.

Results: Responses from 220 students were analyzed. Most students were active social media users, spending 5.5±4.38 hours daily on Instagram (82.3%) and Facebook (80%). Male students were less likely to accept friend requests from the patients than females (p=0.009). While overall responsible online behavior was observed, attitudes towards e-professionalism varied. Pre-Clinical students were more likely to post pictures from the workplace than Clinical students (p=0.009). Females majorly supported social media bans (p=0.018), while males were more interested in keeping up with trends (p=0.022). Pre-clinical students favored more freedom in using social media for patient interaction (p=0.034).

Conclusion: This study highlights the widespread social media usage among medical students and its impact on e-professionalism. Gender and academic seniority influence social media practices and e-professionalism. These findings emphasize the importance of targeted education and policies to promote more responsible use of social media and e-professionalism in the health sector.