A Smartphone App-based Malignant Hematology Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents: A Pilot Study

Inpatient malignant hematology rotations are essential for internal medicine residents to gain experience in hematology and oncology. The specialized nature of these rotations represents a challenge in education that is limited by time, complexity of material, and evolving clinical guidelines and recommendations. This study assesses the feasibility of a smartphone application (app) resource for IM residents to use during inpatient malignant hematology rotations. An app encompassing narrative text, figures, and links was created using free online technology. The app and follow-up survey were distributed to all IM residents rotating through the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital inpatient malignant hematology service (Bles2) from 2025-2026. Thirty-six IM residents completed the Bles2 rotation and were eligible to participate in this study, 108 secondary rotators were also included. 18 total survey responses were collected. Of the Bles2 rotators we had a response rate of 44.4% (16/36). Most residents (14/18, 77.8%) referenced the app between 1 and 4 times during their rotation. 17/18 (94.4%) felt that the app saved time looking up information related to a clinical question. On a 1-5 scale, average scores showed positive response to the app helping during the rotation (4.38), being easy to reference (4.61), being clinically relevant (4.66), helping with clinical decision making (4.29), and improving overall experience during the rotation (4.33). We illustrate that a smartphone app can be a novel and effective tool to distribute specialized, dynamically changing information to internal medicine residents rotating through an inpatient malignant hematology service.