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Cirugía Plástica Ibero-Latinoamericana
On-line version ISSN 1989-2055Print version ISSN 0376-7892
Abstract
CASTILLO ARBOLEDA, F.E. and JACOBO BASTRERI, O.M.. Use of information technologies by the plastic surgeons of Uruguay: a national online survey. Cir. plást. iberolatinoam. [online]. 2014, vol.40, n.4, pp.429-435. ISSN 1989-2055. https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0376-78922014000400010.
Internet has become an essential tool in modern communication and has changed significantly and in a lasting way how people relate and communicate with other people in different aspects, including the professional one. Currently the vast majority of the information available to the physician in his training and in his professional life is on the Internet. To be able to access this information and to be able to take advantage of technology has key importance today. In 2010, at least 100 medical research studies in internationally indexed journals were based on survey data; among these, online surveys via emails or internet sites, because of its low costs and high accessibility, are becoming more common every day. Considering this fact, we developed an online survey about the use of information technology by the plastic surgeons in Uruguay, with the support of the Department of Plastic Surgery and the Plastic Surgery Society of Uruguay (SCPREU). The survey was conducted using an online survey service called Survey Methods® (Dallas, Texas, USA). We used the database of emails of the SCPREU, and sent by e-mail 142 surveys; we obtained 71 responses for a gross response rate of 50%. We sent out an initial invitation and 3 minder messages, 1 each week. The most relevant results of our survey showed that the respondents have at least one computer equipment allowing access to the Internet and 84,51 % access the network on a daily basis. Of all respondents, 95,77 % look for scientific information on the Internet and 98,57 % are interested on receiving scientific information by mail. We considerer that these data creates a window of opportunity for the development of online contents in our specialty.
Keywords : Social media and Medicine; Information technology; Medical informatics; Online surveys.