The International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), following a round table discussion on the occasion of her 50th General Assembly Meeting, hereby states her Policy/Position on the Impact of Technology on Health Education:

We recognize that technology impacts health care education, research, and science educators in the areas of research, classroom teaching and distance education. While the overall effect is not yet fully assessable, the presence of technology in so many different aspects of the profession makes it important to more clearly recognize and appreciate its current and potential role.
 

IFMSA recognizes the following things:

• While there is no assessing body to monitor the presence of technology in this field, and information technology is fast creating an affect IFMSA feels that the sense of direction of the impact it creates has not been spared from the chaos and distress that accompanies this unprecedented era.
• Biomedical knowledge and clinical information about patients are essentially unmanageable by traditional paper-based methods, and to a growing conviction that the processes of knowledge retrieval and expert decision making are as important to modern biomedicine as the fact base on which clinical decisions or research plans are made.
• Information Technologies can be educators' tools in finding creative ways that encourage students to self-test, self-question, and self-regulate learning in helping them to create solutions to complex problems.
• Information Technologies are providing new opportunities for linking medical schools around the world for sharing computer-based learning materials. Information technologies open a wide horizon for acquiring and expending medical knowledge originated in any part of the world without limitations of time, space or distance.
• Information Technologies have lead to the improvement of evidence-based medicine.
  

IFMSA urges for a creation of an international independent monitoring board by international organization such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) to lead the sense of direction of technology in the right path.

IFMSA stresses that the use of computers and information technology in medical education should be regarded as an additional tool and must never be a goal in itself but part of flexible learning. On the contrary clinical medical education should always be centered on direct patient contact and bedside education. While we urge for direct patient contact we believe that using of stimulations would also benefit the student in training.

IFMSA will work with different organizations and institutions world wide in developing a comprehensive online resource that wouldn't contain an overload of information and that can be monitored for content following international standards.

IFMSA understands the advantages produced by information technologies in data retrieval and research management and urges that this be geared to serve the needs at the international level.

IFMSA will communicate to all international organizations, national organizations and local organizations urging to ensure that the best possible training is given to the students by the educators while they integrate the use of computers into the system as different teaching methods need different approaches. Traditional methods in some cases are proven to be more effective and these methods shouldn't be replaced in order to just keep abreast of the technology and careful consideration and study should be done before replacing traditional methods. IFMSA also urges strongly the integration of the technology as part into the education.

IFMSA would like all the educators to take the students into consideration while developing or planning for new information technology, as students are the best resources. Students worldwide are thereby requested to take an active role while any developments to this effect come in place.

IFMSA will through its network work on linking medical schools and organizations for sharing computer based learning material but would like an international organization to be a part of it to monitor the standards thus creating an International self study resource with no boundaries in information and which will provide equal opportunity to countries that cant afford or keep abreast with the technologies.

IFMSA while recognizing that information technologies have improved the evidence-based study strictly urges that Technologies should not estrange us from our humanity or the noble profession. We believe that medicine is an art by itself.

IFMSA believes that information technology is educating the patient and urges for the creation of a course in the medical curriculum of how to handle a patient who has obtained his knowledge good or bad through the technology.

IFMSA stresses and urges all students and everyone in this profession to ensure that the ethical and moral aspects are safeguarded.

ALL IN ALL, IFMSA RECOGNIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON HEALTH EDUCATION AND ENCOURAGES MEDICAL STUDENTS, EDUCATORS AND INTERNATIONAL MONITORING ORGANIZATIONS TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE TO TAKE ROLE IN THE CURRENT PHASE TO DIRECT TECHNOLOGY IN THE RIGHT PATH AS WE DO NOT KNOW HOW THIS WOULD BE IN THE FUTURE.