Abstract:

Introduction:
Data is currently the most valuable economic resource and therefore EU put into practice the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Everyday, in the practical life of citizens, but also in the professional sphere, there is usually working with much data that can be lost, damaged or misused. This could be valid for the electronisation of healthcare. Healthcare professionals and e-health specialists are required to comply with the basic protection rules of sensitive data of the patients.

Material and methods:
Basic information in this field should be also provided to the students of medicine during their university study. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to the respondents - students of the Faculty of Medicine Comenius University in Bratislava. Knowledge and habits of students in the area of data protection after graduating high school were identified.
Respondents (a total number 185; 30.8% men; 69.2% women; age 19.7 ± 1.5 years; 95% secondary school graduates) answered the following question: Name the policies of electronic data protection, sort them according importance (a , b, c, d) and evaluate how often you use them (0 - I do not use it at all, 10 - I use it often).

Results:
The analysis of the respondents´ answers showed the current state of their readiness to protect electronic data at the beginning of the medical study.
Only 75.1% responded to our question, and 24.9% of respondents´ didn´t respond at all. It could be assumed they were unable to name or use no one principle of electronic data protection. Common ways of protecting electronic data ranked by importance to respondents´ replies: 36.7% data backup; 30.9% login update; 28.8% antivirus software; 20.9% secret privacy passwords and privacy data. Others uses less than 20% of respondents.
Other options, such as data encryption, software upgrades, failure to download materials from unverified sources, unsecured computers, firewall, a good spam filter, malware avoidance, non-disclosure of private photos, videos, and cache and browsing history removal were reported less than in 10%.
Concerning the ways of electronic data protection ranked by frequency to respondents´ replies, we indicated the percentage of them which are often and very often used by respondents: data backup to different media 25.2%; antivirus software 20.9%; confidential login and personal data 18.7%; update of login 17.3%; secure password 13.7% and 11.5% of respondents try not to visit or to block suspicious web sites and don´t open suspicious files.

Conclusion:
The results indicate insufficient knowledge, information and caution of most respondents in protecting their electronic data, which may be a serious problem in their future medical practice. In the general and dental medicine study programs, there are currently no conditions for the development, subsequent retention of students´ knowledge and habits in protecting electronic data, which could help graduates safer use of eHealth options for the healthcare sector and patients.

Acknowledgement:
Contribution was supported by GP KEGA MESRS of the SR № 052UK–4/2013 and 003UK–4/2016.

References:
[1] TRNKA, M. Možnosti prípravy zdravotníckych pracovníkov na využívanie nástrojov IKT v podmienkach eHealth (Possibilities of health care workers for using ICT tools in eHealth). Praha : Evropská asociacie pro fototerapii, 2013, p. 89-95.

Keywords:

Electronic data protection, medical students.