medicine at your fingertips

15 June 2005

“Today I wrote up my case study notes whilst travelling in the back of the car – I think people will find (the handhelds) really useful!”, Mohammed Choudhury, second year student, BSMS

BSMS is the first UK medical school to pioneer the use of handheld computers or personal digital assistants (PDA) as an integral component of its ground-breaking undergraduate education programme.

By combining handheld technology with appropriate electronic reference materials BSMS believes that PDAs can provide students with a convenient and instantly-accessible source of the most important medical resources. Handhelds will also improve administrative communication with students when they undertake placements in hospitals and clinics off-campus and have the potential to increase student interaction and participation in lectures.

A volunteer group of 20 first and second year students have each been lent a Palm E2 handheld computer, preloaded with Dr Companion software* which includes anatomy study aids, the BNF (British National Formulary an essential drug reference), medical calculators and databanks of reference values, evidence-based medicine databases, medical dictionaries and e-books. The project is being led and evaluated by a project team including Mark Packer (ICT Project Manager), Tom Roper (Information Resources Development Coordinator), Dr Inam Haq (Senior Lecturer Rheumatology and Medical Education) and Karen Walker-Bone (Senior Lecturer Rheumatology).

Many current awareness services are available to medical schools students; for instance, the British Medical Journal offers a free service that lets handheld device users download the weekly table of contents together with abstracts and full text editor's choice articles, editorials, news, clinical reviews, letters, etc. In a later phase of the project, direct internet access will enable students to benefit from a whole host of additional free online services.

The opportunities are boundless! Once established BSMS intends to develop the project further and integrate PDAs into the learning environment. PDAs will eventually be used in the lecture theatre for real-time tests and quizzes, and off-campus for submitting course evaluations and responding to questionnaires. It is planned that the PDA will also interface with library services, helping students to identify and locate publications, make reservations and extend loans.

BSMS medical students, like qualified practitioners, are on the move a great deal of the time, not only between lectures and seminars, but also between laboratories and clinics, or on ward-based attachments at local hospitals, at GPs’ surgeries, and on a series of clinical placements in hospitals throughout the south-east of England. By 2007, BSMS will have over 400 students off campus, temporarily based in a large number of external locations, each completing as many as 40 different clinical rotations over a three-year period. Maintaining good information exchange with this constantly-shifting population on a person-by-person basis is a major challenge, in which the PDA will play a valuable part.

It’s no wonder that the medical profession has already embraced handheld computers with open arms. Prof Jonathan Cohen added, “BSMS attaches great importance to the role played by information technology in modern medicine. We believe that, if truly integrated into the core of our education programme, PDAs will significantly enhance the learning experience of students. Routine administrative communication between students and faculty members will be conducted more efficiently and, perhaps more importantly, students will acquire a deep familiarity with a tool they are likely to use throughout their professional lives.”

Several current students have recently been pilot-testing the new PDAs and were overwhelmingly positive about the project. Reshad Malik, second year student in the trial group said,

“The most useful thing I have used so far is Dr Companion. I am really impressed with what I have seen of this so far and there is still plenty to explore. I used the Concise Oxford handbooks to read up on topics before a lecture and I found it made the lecture itself much more accessible. I have also added a few of my portfolio write-ups so that I can add notes to them as and when I have time without having to look for the nearest computer.'

* Dr Companion software was produced by Medhand Software, Medhand International AB who have been collaborating with the project team at BSMS in bringing the project to fruition. www.drcompanion.com