Poster at the Medical Library Association Meeting 2008.

1. PDAs and first year medical students
Annis Lee Adams, MA, MLIS, Virginia M. Tanji, MSLS, MEd, Joshua L. Jacobs, MD
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
DESCRIPTION STUDENT COMMENTS
Fig. 5: How often do you retrieve the full text from
the MD on Tap transaction website?
As a part of three-year project funded by The National Library of On the End Year 1 and End Year 2 surveys, students who agreed that PDAs would enhance
Medicine that aimed to improve electronic communication with their educational experience wrote comments such as:
medical students in a community-based medical school, • I use the web feature to look up definitions. . . 60% 60%
medical students were given training on using cell phone PDAs • It’s useful as a planner and to look things up quickly
to access Medline. We surveyed medical students’ abilities and • It's helpful to have lots of information in such a small space and always accessible. 43%
comfort with PDAs in general as well as searching Medline on • It's convenient for looking up info & less bulky than carrying around books/paper, etc.
the PDAs via the MD on Tap PDA application. • Quick reference; learn functionality before I get too busy 40% 37% Often
Occasionally
For this project, NLM created a MD on Tap transaction website Students who disagreed with the statement wrote: 25%
(Fig. 1) that allowed students to view the results of their • Don’t use it except for its calendar Rarely
searches conducted on their PDAs and with one-click access • Access to resources is limited 20% 17%
Never
full text articles available from the Library’s subscriptions. • Good for schedule. . . Internet is too slow and cumbersome to use. 10%
10%
General comments included: 2%
• Treo phone model is really bad. . . phone freezes 0%
• Info from MD on Tap is beyond what we need in the 1st year. . . I want basic info not clinical trials
• Links to full articles do not always connect End Yr 1 End Yr 2
Fig. 1: MD on Tap transaction website
• MD on Tap hard to do searches and oftentimes doesn’t give as relevant searches as with PubMed Survey Survey
• Besides MD on Tap, more useful programs should be offered
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 2: I think a PDA will enhance my educational experience in med school.
75% The rate of return for the first two surveys was 100%, because
80% 73% they were administered during class. The rate of return for the
62% final survey was lower (38%), because students responded at
60% their leisure. This self-selection is a limitation of the study.
46%
Agree On the Baseline, 62% agreed that a PDA would enhance their
40% 35% Don't Know educational experience in medical school. That dropped to 46%
28% on the End Year 1 Survey, but then spiked back up to 75% on
24% 23% Disagree
20% the End Year 2 Survey (Fig. 2).
20%
2% 5% The control group may have rated the Fig. 2 question more
0% highly than the grant-participating students, because they were
0% envious of their fellow students receiving free PDAs.
Baseline End Year 1 Control End Year 2
Survey Group Survey When asked if the information found in MD on Tap was useful,
the students consistently disagreed on both the End Year 1
(37%) and End Year 2 (40%) surveys (Fig. 4).
METHODS Students reported that they rarely or never retrieved the full text
Fig. 3: Having a PDA has improved my ability to retrieve info
for med school. Fig. 4: Is the info from MD on Tap useful? from the MD on Tap transaction website (Fig. 5).
A survey was given to grant-participating students at three
times during the grant period and to a control group of non- Anecdotally, students liked using their PDAs for quick medical
70% 50% reference (e.g. dictionaries) and for calendar functions, but found
grant participating students. 60%
60% 40% the information from MD on Tap beyond what they need in the
40% 37%
The first survey was conducted before the participating 35% first two years. Possibly, a higher satisfaction with MD on Tap
students had any training on the use of their PDAs (Baseline). 50% 30% would be found after the clerkship years.
39% 39% Agree 30% 28% Agree
The Principal Investigator provided training on general PDA 40% 24%
use to grant- participating medical students. Additionally, a Don't Know Don't Know
librarian provided training on finding medical literature using 30% 25% 20% Disagree
22% Disagree
MD on Tap, a PDA application to search Medline, to the same 15%
20%
grant participating students. 10%
10%
The second survey was given at the end of the school year 0%
after participating students had their PDAs for approximately 8 0% ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
End Year 1 End Year 2
months (End Year 1 Survey). The third survey was End Year 1 End Year 2
administered at the end of the second year of participating Survey Survey This project was generously funded by the National Library of
Survey Survey
students having their PDAs (End Year 2 Survey). Medicine, Grant 5G08LM008130-03.