Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Purpose: Technology is now ubiquitous and with a wide range of clinical and pedagogical applications. This study sought to assess students' use of technology on clinical placement to facilitate supporting its use. Method: A questionnaire based review asking questions of medical, and physician associate, students at the University of Sheffield. Results: All responding students had smartphones and utilised technology. The sites and apps used were a wider range than we were aware of raising questions of how we support students if we are ignorant of their preferred sources. There were both positive and negative perceptions of the use of mobile technology by supervisors despite the known widespread use of technology by healthcare professionals. Conclusion: Barriers still exist to the use of the available technologies, in particular supervisor and patient perceptions, which need to be overcome to realise the full potential of technology with some key steps that can be taken to help do this.
Highlights
The traditional image of the medical student with white coat pockets laden with Oxford Handbooks, British National Formulary and other such weighty, but no less vital, tomes has become a thing of the past
These days most of us carry in our pocket computing power that we could only have dreamed of 20 years ago with instant access to every conceivable guideline, advice site and learning platform and without the bulk and inconvenience of books and paper
The results demonstrate that the use of technology to support learning in the clinical environment is common amongst students
Summary
The traditional image of the medical student with white coat pockets laden with Oxford Handbooks, British National Formulary and other such weighty, but no less vital, tomes has become a thing of the past. The growth of medical applications across the major smartphone platforms, as well as online learning to support medical revalidation, courses and ongoing professional development, demonstrate the embracing of technology within clinical pedagogy. Despite this it remains unclear as to whether we are clear on how best to utilise this technology, whether we using it to its full potential and whether we are adding value or delegating the role of teaching to a "platform of convenience". In 2010 researchers looking at internet based medical education commented that "different modes delivery suit different learners in different contexts" (Wong, Greenhalgh and Pawson, 2010) – based on this is it realistic to suggest that getting both supervisors and students to move away from the tried and tested bedside teaching methodologies can be achieved when both groups will have such a range of opinions as to the value of these learning technologies?
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