The use of electronic devices in transport by medical students: Risks assessment

Objective – to study the way medical students are using electronic devices in subway cars, to check their self-assessment of the concomitant risks, and to evaluate the level of artificial lighting in the subway cars.

Material and methods. The study involved the sociological, instrumental, and statistical methods. 123 students of the "Medical College No. 2", 272 students of Pirogov Medical University, 176 teachers of the university and the college were interviewed. The traceable measurement of the level of artificial illumination in the subway cars was done using the combined instrument "TKA-PKM (43)". Statistical processing was performed using the software package Statistica 10.0.

Results. 79.7% of college students, 93.4% of university students and 30.9% of teachers use electronic devices on public transport daily. The risk of using electronic devices in transport is subjectively underestimated by 21.9% of college students, 49.2% of university students and 16.4% of teachers. The study revealed that in the wi-fi zone of Moscow Metro passenger trains in cars of 81-714 and 81-714.5m types, the artificial illumination was not providing optimal conditions for visual performance. In the hygienic education of medical students, the university and college teachers should play a leading role, as they have professional knowledge on healthy lifestyle issues and are able to use this knowledge in their professional activities.

Conclusion. We identified the risk factor that contributes to development of vision disorders in the medical students. This factor is controllable and can be neutralised by the formation of healthy lifestyle skills among medical students.

Keywords: electronic devices, artificial lighting, organ of sight, hygienic education.

Conflict of interest: nothing to disclose.