Studying Students' Knowledge of the Benefits, Challenges, and Applications of Big Data Analytics In Healthcare

Introdution Today, with the advent of technologies and the production of huge amounts of data, Big Data analytics has received much attention especially in healthcare. Understanding this field and recognizing its benefits, applications and challenges provide useful background for conducting efficient research. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the students' familiarity from different universities of Mashhad with the benefits, applications and challenges of Big Data analysis.Method This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on students of Medical Engineering, Medical Informatics, Medical Records and Health Information Management in Mashhad-Iran. A questionnaire was designed based on literature review in pubmed, google scholar, science direct and EMBASE databases, using Delphi method and presence of 10 experts from different fields of study. The designed questionnaire evaluated the opinion of students regarding benefits, challenges and applications of Big Data analytics. 200 students participated in the study and completed the designed questionnaire. Participants' opinions were evaluated descriptively and analytically. Result Most students were between 20 and 30 years old. 63% of them were male and 43.5% had no work experience. Current and previous field of study of most of the students were HIT, HIM, and Medical Records. Most of the participants in this study were undergraduates. 61.5% were economically active, 54.5% were exposed to Big Data. The mean scores of participants in benefits, applications, and challenges section were 3.71, 3.68, and 3.71, respectively, and process management was significant in different age groups (p=0.046), information, modeling, research, and health informatics across different fields of studies were significant (p=0.015, 0.033, 0.001, 0.024) Information and research were significantly different between groups (p=0.043 and 0.019), research in groups with / without economic activity was significant (p= 0.017) and information in exposure / non exposure to Big Data groups was significant (p=0.02). Conclusion Despite the importance and benefits of Big Data analytics, students' lack of familiarity with the necessity and importance of these analytics in industries and research is significant. The field of study and level of study do not appear to have an effect on the degree of knowledge of individuals regarding Big Data analysis. The design of technical training courses in this field may increase the level of knowledge of individuals regarding Big Data analysis.