Assessing Medical Students’, Residents’, and the Public’s Perceptions of the Uses of Personal Digital Assistants

dc.creator	Pradip D. Patel, MD
dc.creator	Ruth B. Greenberg, PhD
dc.creator	Karen Hughes Miller
dc.creator	Mary B. Carter, MD, PhD
dc.creator	Craig H. Ziegler, MS
dc.date	2008-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:14:29Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:14:29Z
dc.identifier	1087-2981
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/d0a9c8c3bf724c3d8d59bd908e72162c
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/16888
dc.description	Although medical schools are encouraging the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs), there have been few investigations of attitudes toward their use by students or residents and only one investigation of the public’s attitude toward their use by physicians. In 2006, the University of Louisville School of Medicine surveyed 121 third- and fourth-year medical students, 53 residents, and 51 members of the non-medical public about their attitudes toward PDAs. Students were using either the Palm i705 or the Dell Axim X50v; residents were using devices they selected themselves (referred to in the study generically as PDAs). Three survey instruments were designed to investigate attitudes of (a) third- and fourth-year medical students on clinical rotations, (b) Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residents, and (c) volunteer members of the public found in the waiting rooms of three university practice clinics. Both residents and medical students found their devices useful, with more residents (46.8%) than students (16.2%) (p<0.001) rating PDAs “very useful.” While students and residents generally agreed that PDAs improved the quality of their learning, residents’ responses were significantly higher (p<0.05) than students’. Residents also responded more positively than students that PDAs made them more effective as clinicians. Although members of the public were generally supportive of PDA use, they appeared to have some misconceptions about how and why physicians were using them. The next phase of research will be to refine the research questions and survey instruments in collaboration with another medical school.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Medical Education Online
dc.relation	http://www.med-ed-online.org/pdf/Res00258.pdf
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1087-2981
dc.rights	CC BY
dc.source	Medical Education Online, Vol 13 (2008)
dc.subject	medical students
dc.subject	residents
dc.subject	public perception
dc.subject	handheld wireless devices
dc.subject	personal digital assistants
dc.subject	PDAs
dc.subject	standardized patients
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	DOAJ:Medicine (General)
dc.subject	DOAJ:Health Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	DOAJ:Medicine (General)
dc.subject	DOAJ:Health Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.title	Assessing Medical Students’, Residents’, and the Public’s Perceptions of the Uses of Personal Digital Assistants
dc.type	article