Web 2.0 increasingly included in medical, nursing curriculum

Maybe you're not big on using social networks, but it seems that next-generation nurses and doctors likely will be. A new study by the Journal of the Medical Library Association concludes that a growing number of medical and nursing schools are including Web 2.0 tools in their curriculum.

The study concluded that 53 percent of nursing schools and 45 percent of medical schools have already implemented Web 2.0 in their teaching plans. What's more, 58 percent of nursing schools plan to add social networking to the teaching mix next year, along with 50 percent of medical schools.

In an interesting side note, while more nursing schools are introducing Web 2.0 to the classroom, medical school respondents to the study were more likely than nursing school respondents to say that they used social media for personal reasons.

The authors did note that the study only included 55 respondents, which could undermine the strength of its conclusions. Still, most of you would probably agree that anecdotally, their conclusion that Web 2.0 tools are becoming part of medical practice is on target.

To learn more about the study:
- read this iHealthBeat piece

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