Sharon Hawks, director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program in the School of Nursing plans to use iPads to help students integrate various types of knowledge into a patient-specific plan of care as part of their Clinical Anesthesia Practicum.
In addition to accessing video, podcasts, and various types of open source online information, students will use the devices to collaborate with classmates, faculty and other professionals via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Students will also share/exchange current evidence/information with clinical faculty and increase the depth of the clinical education experience.
Another intended focus for the use of iPads in the program is to increase the availability of learning resources at more remote clinical sites. “While we rotate to Duke, DRH, UNC and other large hospitals” says Hawks, “almost half of our clinical sites are in rural and under-served areas (where human resources and information resources are not as plentiful). My hope with the iPads is to provide students with needed information that is accurate and timely. Currently, several of the sites have poor internet assess, limited library resources and less familiarity with evidence based practice. So, not only will our students have access to information 24/7, they will also provide providers in these more remote areas with up to date and accurate information from a variety of sources.”
Some specific goals planned for using the iPads this semester are:
- Provide flexible access to a virtual cadaver in dissection lab (using an application like Pocket Body), annotated lecture slides and videos in the classroom, or journal articles for evidence-based practice in clinic.
- Provide access to mobile apps that provide expanded clinical data for each patient (Example: Mediquations).
- Provide access to online text-books.
- Allow a mechanism for students to submit electronic course evaluations, access grades, collaborate with other students, and save notes and coursework.
- Allow students to track case numbers electronically and view clinical evaluations in a more efficient and timely manner.