'It's on my iPhone': attitudes to the use of mobile computing devices in medical education, a mixed-methods study.
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SUBMITTER: Wallace S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3432838 | biostudies-other | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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'It's on my iPhone': attitudes to the use of mobile computing devices in medical education, a mixed-methods study.
Wallace Sean S Clark Marcia M White Jonathan J
BMJ open 20120824 4
<h4>Objective</h4>The last decade has seen the introduction of new technology which has transformed many aspects of our culture, commerce, communication and education. This study examined how medical teachers and learners are using mobile computing devices such as the iPhone in medical education and practice, and how they envision them being used in the future.<h4>Design</h4>Semistructured interviews were conducted with medical students, residents and faculty to examine participants' attitudes a ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundInterprofessional Education (IPE) aims to improve students' attitudes towards collaboration, teamwork, and leads to improved patient care upon graduation. However, the best time to introduce IPE into the undergraduate curriculum is still under debate.MethodsWe used a mixed-methods design based on a sequential explanatory model. Medical students from all six years at the University of Bern, Switzerland (n = 683) completed an online survey about attitudes towards interprofessional learning using a scale validated for German speakers (G-IPAS). Thirty-one medical students participated in nine semi-structured interviews focusing on their experience in interprofessional learning and on the possible impact it might have on their professional development.ResultsWomen showed better attitudes in the G-IPAS across all years (p = 0,007). Pre-clinical students showed more positive attitudes towards IPE [Year 1 to Year 3 (p = 0.011)]. Students correctly defined IPE and its core dimensions. They appealed for more organized IPE interventions throughout the curriculum. Students also acknowledged the relevance of IPE for their future professional performance.ConclusionsThese findings support an early introduction of IPE into the medical curriculum. Although students realise that interprofessional learning is fundamental to high-quality patient care, there are still obstacles and stereotypes to overcome.Trial registrationISRCTN 41715934.
| S-EPMC7577478 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundStudents use mobile devices extensively in their everyday life, and the new technology is adopted in study usage. Since 2013, the University of Helsinki has given new medical and dental students iPads for study use. Simultaneously, an action research project on mobile learning started focusing on these students' mobile device usage throughout their study years. Note taking is crucial in academic studies, but the research evidence in this area is scarce. The aims of this study were to explore medical and dental students' self-reported study uses of mobile devices and their best practices of mobile note taking.MethodAn action research project began in 2013 and followed the first student cohort (124 medical and 52 dental students) with iPads from the first until the fifth study year. We explored students' descriptions of their most important study uses of mobile devices and their perceptions of note taking with iPads. The longitudinal data were collected with online questionnaires over the years. The answers to open-ended questions were examined using qualitative content analysis. The findings were triangulated with another question on note taking and focus-group interviews.ResultsThe response rates varied between 73 and 95%. Note taking was the most frequently and consistently reported study use of iPads during the study years. While taking notes, students processed the new information in an accomplished way and personalised the digital learning materials by making comments, underlining, marking images and drawing. The visual nature of their learning materials stimulated learning. Students organised the notes for retention in their personalised digital library. In the clinical studies, medical students faced the teachers' resistance and ambivalence to mobile device usage. This hindered the full-scale benefit of the novel technology in the clinical context.ConclusionsEfficient digital note taking practices were pivotal to students in becoming mobile learners. Having all their notes and learning materials organised in their personal digital libraries enabled the students to retrieve them anywhere, anytime, both when studying for examinations and treating patients in the clinical practice. The challenges the medical students met using mobile devices in the clinical setting require further studies.
| S-EPMC6446288 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Telemedicine has grown exponentially in the United States over the past few decades, and contemporary trends in the health care environment are serving to fuel this growth into the future. Therefore, medical schools are learning to incorporate telemedicine competencies into the undergraduate medical education of future physicians so that they can more effectively leverage telemedicine technologies for improving the quality of care, increasing patient access, and reducing health care expense. This review articulates the efforts of allopathic-degree-granting medical schools in the United States to characterize and systematize the learnings that have been generated thus far in the domain of telemedicine training in undergraduate medical education. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this review was to collect and outline the current experiences and learnings that have been generated as medical schools have sought to implement telemedicine capacity-building into undergraduate medical education. METHODS:We performed a mixed-methods review, starting with a literature review via Scopus, tracking with Excel, and an email outreach effort utilizing telemedicine curriculum data gathered by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. This outreach included 70 institutions and yielded 7 interviews, 4 peer-reviewed research papers, 6 online documents, and 3 completed survey responses. RESULTS:There is an emerging, rich international body of learning being generated in the field of telemedicine training in undergraduate medical education. The integration of telemedicine-based lessons, ethics case-studies, clinical rotations, and even teleassessments are being found to offer great value for medical schools and their students. Most medical students find such training to be a valuable component of their preclinical and clinical education for a variety of reasons, which include fostering greater familiarity with telemedicine and increased comfort with applying telemedical approaches in their future careers. CONCLUSIONS:These competencies are increasingly important in tackling the challenges facing health care in the 21st century, and further implementation of telemedicine curricula into undergraduate medical education is highly merited.
| S-EPMC6475822 | biostudies-other
Project description:BACKGROUND:Finding readily accessible, high-quality medical references can be a challenging task. HeadToToe is a mobile platform designed to allow easy and quick access to sound, up-to-date, and validated medical knowledge and guidance. It provides easy access to essential clinical medical content in the form of documents, videos, clinical scores, and other formats for the day-to-day access and use by medical students and physicians during their pre- and postgraduate education. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this paper is to describe the architecture, user interface, and potential strengths and limitations of an innovative knowledge dissemination platform developed at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. We also report preliminary results from a user-experience survey and usage statistics over a selected period. METHODS:The dissemination platform consists of a smartphone app. Through an administration interface, content is managed by senior university and hospital staff. The app includes the following sections: (1) main section of medical guidance, organized by clinical field; (2) checklists for history-taking and clinical examination, organized by body systems; (3) laboratory section with frequently used lab values; and (4) favorites section. Each content item is programmed to be available for a given duration as defined by the content's author. Automatic notifications signal the author when the content is about to expire, hence, promoting its timely updating and reducing the risk of using obsolete content. In the background, a third-party statistical collecting tool records anonymous utilization statistics. RESULTS:We launched the final version of the platform in March 2019, both at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva and at the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland. A total of 622 students at the university and 613 health professionals at the hospital downloaded the app. Two-thirds of users at both institutions had an iOS device. During the practical examination period (ie, May 2019) there was a significant increase in the number of active users (P=.003), user activity (P<.001), and daily usage time (P<.001) among medical students. In addition, there were 1086 clinical skills video views during this period compared to a total of 484 in the preceding months (ie, a 108% increase). On a 10-point Likert scale, students and physicians rated the app with mean scores of 8.2 (SD 1.9) for user experience, 8.1 (SD 2.0) for usefulness, and 8.5 (SD 1.8) for relevance of content. In parallel, postgraduate trainees viewed more than 6000 documents during the first 3 months after the implementation in the Division of Neurology at our institution. CONCLUSIONS:HeadToToe is an educator-driven, mobile dissemination platform, which provides rapid and user-friendly access to up-to-date medical content and guidance. The platform was given high ratings for user experience, usefulness, and content quality and was used more often during the exam period. This suggests that the platform could be used as tool for exam preparation.
| S-EPMC7287749 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:The Mobile Continuing Medical Education Project (mCME V.2.0) was a randomized controlled trial designed to test the efficacy of a text messaging (short message service [SMS])-based distance learning program in Vietnam that included daily quiz questions, links to readings and online courses, and performance feedback. The trial resulted in significant increases in self-study behaviors and higher examination scores for intervention versus control participants. OBJECTIVE:The objective of this mixed-methods study was to conduct qualitative and quantitative investigations to understand participants' views of the intervention. We also developed an explanatory framework for future trial replication. METHODS:At the endline examination, all intervention participants completed a survey on their perspectives of mCME and self-study behaviors. We convened focus group discussions to assess their experiences with the intervention and attitudes toward continuing medical education. RESULTS:A total of 48 HIV specialists in the intervention group completed the endline survey, and 30 participated in the focus group discussions. Survey and focus group data suggested that most clinicians liked the daily quizzes, citing them as convenient mechanisms to convey information in a relevant manner. A total of 43 of the 48 (90%) participants reported that the daily quizzes provided motivation to study for continuing medical education purposes. Additionally, 83% (40/48) of intervention participants expressed that they were better prepared to care for patients with HIV in their communities, compared with 67% (32/48) at baseline. Participation in the online coursework component was low (only 32/48, 67% of intervention participants ever accessed the courses), but most of those who did participate thought the lectures were engaging (26/32, 81%) and relevant (29/32, 91%). Focus group discussions revealed that various factors influenced the clinicians' decision to engage in higher learning, or "lateral learning," including the participant's availability to study, professional relevance of the topic area, and feedback. These variables serve as modifying factors that fit within an adapted version of the health belief model, which can explain behavior change in this context. CONCLUSIONS:Qualitative and quantitative endline data suggested that mCME V.2.0 was highly acceptable. Participant behaviors during the trial fit within the health belief model and can explain the intervention's impact on improving self-study behaviors. The mCME platform is an evidence-based approach with the potential for adoption at a national scale as a method for promoting continuing medical education. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02381743; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02381743.
| S-EPMC6495296 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to establish the use of mobile devices by learners at a selected medical school. Distribution of mobile devices was an inaugural initiative implemented by our college. DESIGN:A mixed methodology design using a questionnaire comprising both open-ended and close-ended questions was analysed from 179 (60 male; 119 female) second year medical students registered for the Anatomy course. Open-ended questions were analysed using a thematic approach by identifying emergent ideas and concepts. Close-ended questions were analysed using SPSS V.21.0. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:Second year medical students at a medical school in South Africa. RESULTS:Three main themes emerged, namely, (a) mobile device engagement, (b) advantages and (c) challenges affecting use of mobile devices. A majority of learners accessed their tablets for lecture notes; more females were inclined to access these devices than males. Challenges experienced included poor wifi connectivity on and off the university campus; some students were not keen on the idea of mobile devices and preferred traditional methods of teaching. CONCLUSIONS:Mobile devices have been adopted by learners at our university. Uses of technology outlined are related to Eraut's intentions of informal learning. Integrating tablets into classes had a positive effect on student access to course material.
| S-EPMC5577903 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundAugmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR), realized as head-mounted devices (HMDs), may open up new ways of teaching medical content for low-resource settings. The advantages are that HMDs enable repeated practice without adverse effects on the patient in various medical disciplines; may introduce new ways to learn complex medical content; and may alleviate financial, ethical, and supervisory constraints on the use of traditional medical learning materials, like cadavers and other skills lab equipment.ObjectiveWe examine the effectiveness of AR, MR, and VR HMDs for medical education, whereby we aim to incorporate a global health perspective comprising low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe conducted a systematic review according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) and Cochrane guidelines. Seven medical databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Science Direct, PsycINFO, Education Resources Information Centre, and Google Scholar) were searched for peer-reviewed publications from January 1, 2014, to May 31, 2019. An extensive search was carried out to examine relevant literature guided by three concepts of extended reality (XR), which comprises the concepts of AR, MR, and VR, and the concepts of medicine and education. It included health professionals who took part in an HMD intervention that was compared to another teaching or learning method and evaluated with regard to its effectiveness. Quality and risk of bias were assessed with the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument, the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale-Education, and A Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions. We extracted relevant data and aggregated the data according to the main outcomes of this review (knowledge, skills, and XR HMD).ResultsA total of 27 studies comprising 956 study participants were included. The participants included all types of health care professionals, especially medical students (n=573, 59.9%) and residents (n=289, 30.2%). AR and VR implemented with HMDs were most often used for training in the fields of surgery (n=13, 48%) and anatomy (n=4, 15%). A range of study designs were used, and quantitative methods were clearly dominant (n=21, 78%). Training with AR- and VR-based HMDs was perceived as salient, motivating, and engaging. In the majority of studies (n=17, 63%), HMD-based interventions were found to be effective. A small number of included studies (n=4, 15%) indicated that HMDs were effective for certain aspects of medical skills and knowledge learning and training, while other studies suggested that HMDs were only viable as an additional teaching tool (n=4, 15%). Only 2 (7%) studies found no effectiveness in the use of HMDs.ConclusionsThe majority of included studies suggested that XR-based HMDs have beneficial effects for medical education, whereby only a minority of studies were from LMICs. Nevertheless, as most studies showed at least noninferior results when compared to conventional teaching and training, the results of this review suggest applicability and potential effectiveness in LMICs. Overall, users demonstrated greater enthusiasm and enjoyment in learning with XR-based HMDs. It has to be noted that many HMD-based interventions were small-scale and conducted as short-term pilots. To generate relevant evidence in the future, it is key to rigorously evaluate XR-based HMDs with AR and VR implementations, particularly in LMICs, to better understand the strengths and shortcomings of HMDs for medical education.
| S-EPMC8299342 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAs Ukraine struggles with the education of healthcare professionals due to the war, we aimed to identify the specific effects of the war on medical education, the resulting needs, and the expected consequences for schools, faculty, staff, students, and the healthcare system.MethodsIn October and November 2022, we performed a survey of students, faculty, and staff of medical schools in Ukraine and conducted semi-structured interviews with faculty leaders (i.e., rectors, vice-rectors). We conducted a descriptive analysis of the survey's closed-ended questions. The survey and the interviews included open-ended questions about war-related restrictions to teaching and learning, resulting needs, and expected consequences, for which we applied a thematic analysis.ResultsWe received 239 survey responses (N = 49 faculty and staff, N = 190 students) and conducted nine interviews with faculty leaders across Ukraine. Most survey participants indicated that they had experienced restrictions or changes to their work or study due to the war (86% of faculty and staff, 69% of students). From the thematic analysis of the survey and interviews, we identified eight themes: disruption of teaching, increased workload, mental stress, financial restrictions, non-war related needs, international cooperation, quality of education, and prospects of future professionals. The quality of healthcare education in Ukraine was threatened, and schools, faculty, staff, and students were under great strain. While already established international cooperation has been supportive, some needs have still not been addressed.ConclusionsWe hope that our findings will help researchers and educators from abroad contribute to meeting Ukraine's needs in medical education.
| S-EPMC10605485 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDigital health technologies hold promise to enhance patient-related outcomes, to support health care staff by reducing their workload, and to improve the coordination of care. As key users of digital health technologies, health care workers are crucial to enable a meaningful digital transformation of health care. Digital health literacy and digital skills should become prerequisite competencies for health professionals to facilitate the implementation and leverage the potential of digital technologies to improve health.ObjectiveWe aimed to assess European medical students' perceived knowledge and opinions toward digital health, the status of digital health implementation in medical education, and the students' most pressing needs.MethodsThe explanatory design of our mixed methods study was based on an online, anonymous, self-administered survey targeted toward European medical students. A linear regression analysis was used to identify the influence of the year of medical studies on the responses. Additional analysis was performed by grouping the responses by the self-evaluated frequency of eHealth technology use. Written responses to four qualitative questions in the survey were analyzed using an inductive approach.ResultsThe survey received a total of 451 responses from 39 European countries, and there were respondents for every year of medical studies. The majority of respondents saw advantages in the use of digital health. While 40.6% (183/451) felt prepared to work in a digitized health care system, more than half (240/451, 53.2%) evaluated their eHealth skills as poor or very poor. Medical students considered lack of education to be the reason for this, with 84.9% (383/451) agreeing or strongly agreeing that more digital health education should be implemented in the medical curriculum. Students demanded introductory and specific eHealth courses covering data management, ethical aspects, legal frameworks, research and entrepreneurial opportunities, role in public health and health systems, communication skills, and practical training. The emphasis lay on tailoring learning to future job requirements and interprofessional education.ConclusionsThis study shows a lack of digital health-related formats in medical education and a perceived lack of digital health literacy among European medical students. Our findings indicate a gap between the willingness of medical students to take an active role by becoming key players in the digital transformation of health care and the education that they receive through their faculties.
| S-EPMC7455864 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIntroducing students to the "planetary health lenses" perspective is crucial. Comprehensive strategies for teaching this perspective are lacking, especially in the domains of "interconnection within nature (IWN)" and "systems thinking/complexity." There is also a scarcity of studies assessing medical students' opinions on planetary health and evaluating teaching strategies.ObjectiveTo understand Brazilian medical students' perceptions and knowledge of planetary health (PH) and evaluate the application of the educational material "Patient and Clinic through the Lens of Planetary Health," which addresses "IWN" and "complexity" through the sociological lens of Actor-Network Theory, in an integrative course at a medical school in Brazil.MethodsA mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design involving two medical student classes during 2022/2023. Participants completed a questionnaire on sociodemographic data; pre- and post-intervention closed-ended questions about perceptions related to PH, and an open-ended questionnaire on experience and learning. Each student group presented a portfolio under the planetary health lenses regarding a real patient, developing a network diagram that described the social network involving both human and non-human actors with which this person is interconnected. The cohorts participated in "IWN" activities: a contemplative trail or reflection on belonging to the planet.ResultsNinety-six students and 9 professors participated. The majority of students (66.7%) reported significant or extremely significant learning from the sessions. There was an increase in perception of the need for physicians to incorporate PH into their clinical practice (p = 0.002; r = 0.46) and an intensification of the sense of interconnection with the environment (p = 0.003; r = 0.46). There was a gain in knowledge about how many diseases were related to PH (p < 0.02 for all 13 listed diseases). The majority (83%) found the sessions relevant or highly relevant and commented on their impact, both professionally and personally.ConclusionsTeaching PH in a medical school allowed students to learn from the patient's perspective, considering psychosocial and environmental determinants, about the intrinsic interdependence between population's health and PH. This strategy made a significant contribution by proposing pioneering didactics and offering valuable insights into the challenges and nuances of teaching PH.
| S-EPMC10988787 | biostudies-literature