Mobile technology supporting trainee doctors' workplace learning and patient care: an evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Digital Health
• Information Science

Background:

• The increasing volume of medical information presents challenges for doctors.
• Workplace learning for doctors involves complex knowledge acquisition processes.
• The iDoc project provided trainee doctors with a smartphone-based medical textbook library.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate trainee doctors' information-seeking behaviors in the workplace.
• To evaluate the utility of a smartphone library for medical education.
• To understand how mobile technology impacts clinical decision-making and patient care.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire survey of Foundation Year 2 doctors (n=260) in 2011.
• Baseline questionnaires for the iDoc project (n=193) assessing smartphone usage.
• Analysis of 117 case reports detailing smartphone use in clinical practice.

Main Results:

• Senior medical staff and peers were the most frequent daily information sources.
• Smartphones were used more by male doctors and were considered most useful during Foundation Year 1.
• The smartphone library facilitated learning, supported transitions, enhanced patient care, and enabled 'just-in-time' access to reliable information.

Conclusions:

• Trainee doctors utilize diverse information sources, including colleagues and digital libraries.
• Smartphone libraries are valuable during professional transitions, aiding the integration of explicit and tacit knowledge.
• Mobile technology augments clinical decision-making and patient care but does not replace essential human interaction.