Can a smartphone app improve medical trainees' knowledge of antibiotics?

To determine whether a smartphone app, containing local bacterial resistance patterns (antibiogram) and treatment guidelines, improved knowledge of prescribing antimicrobials among medical trainees.

We conducted a prospective, controlled, pre-post study of medical trainees with access to a smartphone app (app group) containing our hospital's antibiogram and treatment guidelines compared to those without access (control group). Participants completed a survey which included a knowledge assessment test (score range, 0 [lowest possible score] to 12 [highest possible score]) at the start of the study and four weeks later. The primary outcome was change in mean knowledge assessment test scores between week 0 and week 4. Change in knowledge assessment test scores in the app group were compared to the difference in scores in the control group using multivariable linear regression.

Sixty-two residents and senior medical students participated in the study. In a multivariable analysis controlling for sex and prior knowledge, app use was associated with a 1.1 point (95% CI: 0.10, 2.1) [β = 1.08, t(1) = 2.08, p = 0.04]  higher change in knowledge score compared to the change in knowledge scores in the control group. Among those in the app group, 88% found it easy to navigate, 85% found it useful, and about one- quarter used it daily.

An antibiogram and treatment algorithm app increased knowledge of prescribing antimicrobials in the context of local antibiotic resistance patterns. These findings reinforce the notion that smartphone apps can be a useful and innovative means of delivering medical education.