Abstract

Smartphones evolve in a potential learning companion among students. The specific needs of medical education have brought in light, apps dedicated to medical school. Therefore, the impact that arises in academia attracted the focus of scientific world for further research. The aim of this paper is to identify the usage of medical apps among medical students, exploring their usage patterns in order to enhance their educational activities. For that purpose, 381 students were asked to fulfill a 16-item questionnaire. The respondents (300 students) constitute a 78.7% response rate, with a Cronbach’s α = 0.95. According to the survey, 93.6% (n: 281/300) of medical students own smartphones, 64.8% (n: 182/281) of them use Android devices and 17.1% (n: 48/281) iOS devices.

The majority of students, that is 57.7% (n: 173/300) have downloaded 1 to 5 medical apps, whereas the number of students with more than 10 apps is significant lower. There is noteworthy to mention that a meaningful segment uses rarely or never the installed medical apps (59.3% and 36.7% respectively). The future development and use of medical apps to support both education and clinical practice, seems to at- tract the majority of the respondents.

Share

COinS