iPad Revolution for Weill Cornell Medical Students

DEVICE REPLACES PRINTED TEXTS FOR 1ST- AND 2ND-YEAR STUDENTS, PROMOTES MOVE FROM PAPER TO ELECTRONIC RECORDKEEPING

NEW YORK (Sept. 15, 2011) — Weill Cornell Medical College students will now have a wealth of medical information and educational tools at their fingertips. Starting this fall 2011 semester, all incoming first- and second-year students are being provided with a new iPad 2 in place of the printed course notes and texts used by most students around the country.

Students will now be able to download course materials, see video or hear audio recordings of lectures, submit electronic course evaluations, access their grades, collaborate with other students, and save their notes and coursework.

"I am very proud that Weill Cornell is one of the first medical colleges in the country to embrace this technology," says Dr. Carol Storey-Johnson, senior associate dean of education at Weill Cornell Medical College. "The iPad will open a world of new learning opportunities for students and dramatically expand the way we train and educate a new generation of physicians. "

iPads in medical schools - are they improving education?

Recently, I had a chance to chat with a number of medical students about their use of iPads in medical school. So many medical students are using iPads in the classroom (regardless of whether their school has an official iPad program).

Last year, the University of California Irvine started giving iPads to first-year medical students. These iPads were loaded with first-year curriculum. Have they made a difference in educational outcomes?

Take a look at how UC Irvine is using the iPad:

UC Irvine’s iMedEd Initiative will foster highly individualized and small-group learning for a richer medical school experience. The program, targeted initially at first-year students, aims to transform the classic lecturer-passive listener model with digital textbooks, online curricula, audio and video libraries, podcasts and other technological advances such as digital stethoscopes and portable ultrasound units.

The pilot program uses Apple’s iPad to digitally house the entire first-year curriculum, outlines, handouts and essential textbooks. The devices, which are provided to each entering student, also are loaded with hundreds of medical applications, note-taking and recording capabilities, and many other tools that complement diverse learning styles. Short, topic-based podcast lectures can be reviewed as often as desired as preparation for small-group discussions.

In addition, the encrypted tablet is a platform for complementary technologies that enhance the curriculum. Students using digital stethoscopes can listen to a patient’s heart then transmit the audio and visual data for comparison with a library of heart beat sounds, allowing for better interpretation and increased comprehension. 

The iMedEd Initiative also is integrating portable ultrasound devices into the curriculum, providing students with a noninvasive diagnostic tool to examine internal organs and blood flow. Specially designed iPad applications let students consult video tutorials as they perform bedside ultrasounds, enabling them to review normal and abnormal examinations and track procedures for quality assurance.

I look forward to seeing some data from this pilot project. There's definitely a growing opportunity to leverage interactivity and multimedia in the classroom. As long as educators are using these tools effectively, we should see improvements in the medical school education experience.

Significant focus around mobile devices (like the iPad) for CME here at the AMA #cmetaskforce meeting

I'm attending the 21st Annual Conference Of The National Task Force On CME Provider/Industry Collaboration here in Baltimore. If you walk through the exhibit area, you'll see that a number of organizations are focusing around the use of mobile slate devices like the iPad for CME or continuing medical education.

These mobile devices have screens that are large enough for you to view meaningful content without panning or scrolling to read everything. There's no doubt they will play a greater role in the future of certified continuing medical education.