Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Smartphones, mobile apps and social networking in medical education

Mark Bridge writes:

I wasn’t supposed to be at this year’s AMEE 2012 conference in Lyon. AMEE is the Association for Medical Education in Europe, which - as you can probably guess - has very little direct connection with the mobile phone industry. However, my wife was going because she works in medical education. Me?  I fancied a trip to France.

My plan was to hang around in the city during the day, drinking coffee and eating brioche aux pralines until my teeth started screaming. In the evening we’d meet at a small cafe and be mistaken for locals. In my dreams.

My biggest mistake was looking through the conference programme. There was a section on mobile learning, there were discussions about social networking… hang on, this was starting to sound interesting. My teeth breathed a sigh of relief.

Before I knew it, my short break had become a busman’s holiday.

Now, to put things in perspective, mobile technology isn’t currently a big part of the education progress. However, as this year’s AMEE programme demonstrated, it is becoming increasingly important.

Natalie Lafferty, the e-learning lead at the medical school at the University of Dundee, explained that mobile technology offered colleges and universities the advantage of being able to ‘push’ learning to students.

“You’ve got schools like Stanford who a couple of years ago decided to give all of their students an iPad, you’ve got Nancy in France who also have given all of their medical students an iPad, in the UK we have Leeds who gave their clinical students iPhones two years ago, Manchester this year have given iPads to their fourth year students and they're rolling it out further next year…”

As Natalie mentioned, the University of Leeds is seen as a pioneer when it comes to technology in medical education. Gareth Frith, the technology enhanced learning manager from the Leeds Institute of Medical Education, told me their iPhone scheme was still running - but was likely to be transformed into a ‘bring your own device’ programme in the near future.

“I think it will definitely be within the next two years. It looks as though 75% of our students have some kind of smartphone at the moment - and I think in a year’s time that will probably be enough Android and iPhone devices for us to make a commitment to provide content for the students’ phones rather than give them the phones.”

I asked Gareth what he thought the future held for mobile devices in medical education. His answer: voice recognition and voice transcription.

“Most doctors like to give feedback or write their notes by dictating”, he said. “The technology is very, very close to being excellent in that respect; another six months and another couple of software releases and I think we will see people doing that quite normally.”

Dr Nicole Koehler of Monash University in Australia revealed details of a study that had asked medical students about their attitudes towards medically-related mobile phone apps.

Over three-quarters of students owned a smartphone - and most of those students had already experienced applications with a medical focus. They were generally positive about using medically-related apps, although they didn’t see apps replacing textbooks.

I asked her whether students were concerned that using smartphones for study might be perceived as ‘playing with their phones’ by other people.

“They are issues that did turn up; for example, a patient might think they are using some sort of social media when they are actually looking up information. That indicates to us that students must make patients aware by saying ‘I just want to check this, I’m looking something up for you’. It’s an issue the students raised themselves.”

The full-length versions of my interviews are in this week’s special podcast feature, which also includes conversations about a couple of the applications that were discussed at AMEE. Dr Bridget Maher from the School of Medicine at University College Cork talked about a mobile app that helped students write better letters when their patients left hospital, while Supriya Krishnan from the e-Learning Unit at St George’s, University of London, talked about transforming teaching materials from paper-based learning to online interactive Virtual Patients and now to mobile apps.

You can listen to the full podcast on this website, by downloading the mp3 file or by picking it up from iTunes. It’s also possible to subscribe to all our weekly podcasts via RSS and iTunes or by using the Stitcher mobile app.

Discover the latest mobile industry news stories as they happen by following us on Twitter or on our Facebook page. Alternatively, please sign up for our free weekly newsletter using the Register link in the top right-hand corner of our website.
Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
4.0

Categories: Applications, OpinionNumber of views: 39091

Tags: opinion applications health education

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Opinion Articles

RIM is still committed to the consumer market... like there was ever any doubt

Mark Bridge writes:

There are times I feel like turning my back on the mobile phone industry and joining a monastery. That’s probably not going to happen, given the monks’ tradition of not admitting wives. But yesterday was another of those frustrating occasions. Let me tell you why.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Are social media and smartphones really killing SMS and MMS?

Mark Bridge writes:

A couple of research reports this week have noted that text messaging and picture messaging growth is slowing down. Could this be the end for our trusty friend SMS and its bolder, brighter (and slightly flakier) sibling MMS?

Author: The Fonecast
1 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Last week at The Fonecast: 26th March 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s been a week of ups and downs for the mobile industry.

It started with good news as Apple – fresh from hitting 3 million new iPad sales – announced its plans to spend some of the $100 billion sitting in its decidedly non-mobile wallet. There’ll be a quarterly dividend and a share buy-back scheme.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

New product overtakes old product: why the surprise?

Mark Bridge writes:

Sometimes I’m a simple soul. This is one of those occasions. I simply don’t get what all the fuss is about.

Sales of Windows Phone 7 smartphones have overtaken Symbian device sales in Great Britain for the first time ever. Yes, the new heavily-promoted mobile phones from Nokia are more popular with consumers and retailers than those using the obsolescent Symbian OS. Windows Phone 7 now has 2.5% of the British smartphone market, compared with 2.4% for Symbian.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Mosaik Solutions: providing mobile coverage data by putting all the pieces together

Mark Bridge writes:

Some parts of the mobile industry are all glamour and glitz, megapixels and multi-cores, apps and ads. And then there are the essential parts of the industry, quite often with considerably less competition... and therefore accompanied by less singing and dancing.

Despite hailing from the city of Memphis in Tennessee, Mosaik Solutions isn’t from the rock ‘n’ roll end of the mobile industry. It creates mobile coverage maps and provides coverage data, as well as supplying information about coverage patterns, wireless spectrum depth, network configurations and licencing.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First4243444547495051Last

Recent Podcasts

Reviewing our 2015 mobile industry predictions... and looking forward to 2016

Podcast - 15th January 2016

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Podcast - 6th March 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Looking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

Podcast - 27th February 2015

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Interview with Chris Millington of Doro about mobile retailing, wearables and technology for older consumers

Podcast - 24th February 2015

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
12345678910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«March 2025»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
242526272812
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31123456

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement