Emergency medicine clerkship encounter and procedure logging using handheld computers

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Accreditation requires tracking medical student clinical encounters.
• Handheld computers offer a potential solution for electronic logging.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the technical feasibility of a novel electronic logging and feedback program.
• Assess medical student satisfaction with handheld computer use for logging encounters.

Main Methods:

• Survey study of fourth-year medical student satisfaction.
• Analysis of electronic logging technology in the emergency department.

Main Results:

• 46 students logged 2,930 encounters; 63% responded to the survey.
• Most students found logging and synchronization easy (69%, 83%).
• Low engagement with feedback (49% never viewed website) and poor log review with preceptors (79% never reviewed). Only 17% found it beneficial.

Conclusions:

• Electronic logging has potential benefits for documenting clinical encounters and procedures.
• This pilot demonstrated poor compliance and dissatisfaction, hindering its educational value.
• Obstacles to effective implementation must be addressed for electronic logging to succeed.