A previous degree as a factor associated with the use of search engines by Latin American medical students: When experience does not count

Introduction: Having a previous degree should be an advantage in the overall knowledge of the medical degree, but this has not been evaluated from the scientific point of view. Objective: To determine whether there is an association with a previous degree and the use of search engines in medical students of Latin America. Methodology: Cross-sectional analytical study was conducted, based on an analysis of secondary data from a study carried out in 40 medical schools in Latin America. The main variable was the previous degree, which was crossed with the knowledge of five databases and a search engine. Association statistics were performed. Results: Of the 11,574 students included, 7.6% (885) has a previous degree, of which 79.6% (606) were in the area of sciences. The best known scientific search resources were Google Scholar (69.1% and 73.6%, for those without and with a previous degree, respectively), followed by PubMed (59.9% versus 64.5%), SciELO (55.9% versus 66.1%). In the multivariate analysis, those who had a previous career made less frequent use of PubMed (RP: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.79-0.95), Scopus (RP: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.61-0.99), Uptodate (RP: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.54-0.97), and SciELO (RP: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.69-0.87), adjusted by three variables. Discussion: There is a lower frequency of use of information resources among those who have a previous degree. This could indicate that other degree courses also have a lower level of teaching in research subjects. These results need to corroborated and improved.