Awareness, Attitude, and Usage of Digital Health among Medical Students – A Malaysian Perspective

Objectives: Digital health refers to the use of digital platforms in healthcare services. Modern clinical practice expects physicians to adopt digital technology and deliver personalised patient care. It is crucial that medical students possess adequate knowledge and the right attitude towards digital health. Therefore, this research aimed to assess the digital health competency as well as identify challenges for its usage among students of a private Malaysian medical school. Material and Methods: This research employed a cross-sectional survey to collect data from consenting medical students utilising well-structured questionnaires. These questionnaires included questions on basic socio-demographic information as well as the knowledge, attitude, and possible challenges faced by medical students while using digital health. Results: Majority of the respondents were in the age group of 22–25 years with a female preponderance. 87% of them were familiar with digital health, and 64% were utilising websites to get health-related information. 40.6% used digital health resources daily, demonstrating a positive attitude of the study population towards digital health platforms. The challenges cited were access to Internet connectivity and privacy. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the study participants possess adequate knowledge and a positive attitude towards the use of digital health technologies. To fully harness the potential of emerging technologies in advancing community wellness, it is vital to integrate digital health education into the medical curriculum.