The Use of Smartphones in Medical Education: Insights from a Caribbean Medical School

Abstract

Introduction and ObjectiveWith the advent of social media and widespread use of the internet, the learning routine of students has significantly changed over the last two decades. The use of smartphones and on‐line educational applications has exponentially risen. Among medical students, readily accessible on‐line tools in medical education have become a major way to learn the basic sciences and clinical concepts. Smartphones have shifted the traditional learning routine into “learning on the go”. Medical students are able to interact with peers, meet‐up electronically and collaborate both for social reasons and educational purposes. Among the Caribbean medical schools, only one study on smartphone utilization among medical students and teachers has been published so far. The objective of this study is to get an insight on how smartphones are utilized among educators and medical students for teaching and learning, respectively, in a Caribbean medical college.MethodAfter getting an ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Board (IRB/Ana/002/2021), the study was done by conducting a survey using a questionnaire among the faculty, premeds, and preclinical medical students at Bridgetown International University in Barbados. The questions were discussed and validated by all the authors. The participation was voluntary. The participants had to answer a set of questions including the proprietorship of smartphones, medical applications used, the search engine commonly used for learning medicine and also an assessment of their insight on the usefulness of smart phones in Medical Education. The results of the survey were tallied and statistical analysis was done.ResultsThe study population (n=44) included faculty, premeds and preclinical students at Bridgetown International University in Barbados.The results showed that 97% of the respondents owned a smartphone for over 2 years. 79.9% of the respondents used Android smartphone and about 39% of those used the Samsung mobile phones.The smart phone was generally not received for use in medical school. It was mainly factored into the decision to get a smartphone and also for communication and social purposes. After acquiring 93% of the respondents started using it for medical education.The reference source used most to search unfamiliar terms or concepts is Google search engine (95%).84% of the respondents used medical apps. These apps are used several times during a week. The apps used include Osmosis (13%) and 3D Anatomy (11%).62% of the respondents agreed that smartphones gave them a better learning experience and felt that smartphones have a future in medical education in the future.ConclusionThe survey revealed that most of the medical students used smartphones for better learning. It is found to be a useful tool for “learning on the go”. In future curriculum should be designed incorporating the usage of smartphones for academic purpose as it is the future of medical education.