Practicing evidence based medicine at the bedside: a randomized controlled pilot study in undergraduate medical students assessing the practicality of tablets, smartphones, and computers in clinical life

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

Research Article

Bernhard Marschall¹  Hendrik Friederichs²  Anne Weissenstein² 

[1] Institute of Medical Education – IfAS, University of Muenster, Albert – Schweitzer – Strasse 21, 48149, Muenster, Germany;University of Muenster, Studienhospital der Medizinischen Fakultät Münster, Malmedyweg 17-19, 48149, Muenster, Germany;

关键词: Usability;    Mobile device;    Smartphone;    Tablet computer;    Evidence based medicine;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12911-014-0113-7

 received in 2013-08-11, accepted in 2014-11-17,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPracticing evidence-based medicine is an important aspect of providing good medical care. Accessing external information through literature searches on computer-based systems can effectively achieve integration in clinical care. We conducted a pilot study using smartphones, tablets, and stationary computers as search devices at the bedside. The objective was to determine possible differences between the various devices and assess students’ internet use habits.MethodsIn a randomized controlled pilot study, 120 students were divided in three groups. One control group solved clinical problems on a computer and two intervention groups used mobile devices at the bedside. In a questionnaire, students were asked to report their internet use habits as well as their satisfaction with their respective search tool using a 5-point Likert scale.ResultsOf 120 surveys, 94 (78.3%) complete data sets were analyzed. The mobility of the tablet (3.90) and the smartphone (4.39) was seen as a significant advantage over the computer (2.38, p < .001). However, for performing an effective literature search at the bedside, the computer (3.22) was rated superior to both tablet computers (2.13) and smartphones (1.68). No significant differences were detected between tablets and smartphones except satisfaction with screen size (tablet 4.10, smartphone 2.00, p < .001).ConclusionsUsing a mobile device at the bedside to perform an extensive search is not suitable for students who prefer using computers. However, mobility is regarded as a substantial advantage, and therefore future applications might facilitate quick and simple searches at the bedside.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Friederichs et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.