Clinical Trials Logo
  1. Home
  2. Education, Medical
  3. NCT02723136
  4. Details
NCT02723136 Clinical Trial

Implementation of a Smartphone Application in Medical Education: A Randomised Trial

Education, Medical Clinical Trial

— iSTART  

Official title:
Implementing a Smartphone Application to Optimise Academic Performance Among Medical Students: A Randomised Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data
NCT number NCT02723136
Other study ID # CEC098-16
Secondary ID
Status Not yet recruiting
Phase N/A
First received March 27, 2016
Last updated March 27, 2016
Start date April 2016
Est. completion date June 2016

Study information
Verified date March 2016
Source Universidad de Valparaiso
Contact Felipe T Martinez, M.D., M.Sc.
Phone 99690952
Email felipe.martinez@uv.cl
Is FDA regulated No
Health authority Chile: Comité de Ética Científico
Study type Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study addresses the effectiveness of a smartphone application to improve academic performance among medical students. Participants will be randomised to receive an application developed by a team of physicians and engineers, designed to review key concepts in internal medicine and its subspecialties. The primary outcome will be the number of correct answers in a multiple choice test 4 weeks after randomisation.

Description:

Smartphones are devices that are commonly used by medical professionals. Their adoption by students and physicians is increasing, with reported use rates of roughly 85%. Reasons behind these implementation rates stem from their versatility, since this technology provides mobile communications and advanced informatics in a handheld device that can be used at the bedside. However, data regarding their use in medical education is scarce.

This study aims to address whether a smartphone application designed to review key concepts in internal medicine and its subspecialties might increase the overall academic performance of medical students. Eligible participants will be interns in their final year of study who own a smartphone with an operating system based in Android® or iOS®. Only those that do not wish to participate will be excluded from this trial.

All participants will undergo a baseline test aimed at addressing their knowledge of internal medicine and its subspecialties. Multiple choice questions will be used in this test, which have been developed by a team of internists with 5 years experience in formulating them. These questions have also been designed to resemble a national examination that is required to practice medicine in the Chilean Public Health System, and have shown a good correlation with performance in the latter exam in previous reports. In order to optimise adherence, the application will also provide feedback to its user, showing overall performance in terms of correct answers and time required to solve a clinical vignette.

After this test, participants will be randomised to receive the smartphone application by a statistician. Investigators will be kept unaware of the allocation sequence used in this trial. The contents of the application will include clinical vignettes that will review core concepts in internal medicine and its subspecialties. After 4 weeks, participants will undergo a second test and the overall performance between groups will be compared. Both outcome assessors and statisticians will be kept unaware of participant allocation. Data regarding the overall application use will be collected as well.

Recruitment information / eligibility
Status Not yet recruiting
Enrollment 75
Est. completion date June 2016
Est. primary completion date June 2016
Accepts healthy volunteers Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Gender Both
Age group 18 Years and older
Eligibility Inclusion Criteria:

- Medical student coursing their internship.

- Owns a smartphone with an Android® or iOs®-based operating system

Exclusion Criteria:

- Refusal to participate.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

Intervention

Device:
• Smartphone Application
Smartphone application developed by internists and engineers. Will be made available on iOS(R) and Android(R) operating systems.

Locations
Country Name City State
Chile Campus de la Salud, Universidad de Valparaiso Reñaca Viña del Mar

Sponsors (2)
Lead Sponsor Collaborator
Universidad de Valparaiso Laboratorio de Ingeniería y Tecnología (LABITEC)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Chile, 

References & Publications (5)

Baumgart DC. Smartphones in clinical practice, medical education, and research. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Jul 25;171(14):1294-6. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.320. — View Citation

Mosa AS, Yoo I, Sheets L. A systematic review of healthcare applications for smartphones. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2012 Jul 10;12:67. doi: 10.1186/1472-6947-12-67. Review. — View Citation

O'Connor P, Byrne D, Butt M, Offiah G, Lydon S, Mc Inerney K, Stewart B, Kerin MJ. Interns and their smartphones: use for clinical practice. Postgrad Med J. 2014 Feb;90(1060):75-9. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2013-131930. Epub 2013 Nov 15. — View Citation

Rung A, Warnke F, Mattheos N. Investigating the use of smartphones for learning purposes by Australian dental students. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2014 Apr 30;2(2):e20. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.3120. — View Citation

Shah J, Haq U, Bashir A, Shah SA. Awareness of academic use of smartphones and medical apps among medical students in a private medical college? J Pak Med Assoc. 2016 Feb;66(2):184-6. — View Citation

Outcome
Type Measure Description Time frame Safety issue
Other Application adherence Mean time spent using the application. 4 weeks after randomisation No
Other Application adherence Mean number of questions answered by study participants. 4 weeks after randomisation No
Primary Academic Performance Overall percentage of correct responses in a standardised test. 4 weeks after randomisation No
Secondary Time to complete tests Time required by students to complete a 90-question multiple-choice test. 4 weeks after randomisation No
See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Recruiting NCT06106178 - A Novel Serious Game as an Alternative for Teaching Basic Point-of-Care Transthoracic Echocardiography Skills N/A
Recruiting NCT05434221 - Communication Skill Training Program for Occupational Therapy Interns N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT06030466 - Medical Students' Acceptance and Learning Efficacy With Physical and Virtual Standardized Patients N/A
Completed NCT01146691 - Effect of Around the Clock Intensivist Coverage on Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Outcomes N/A
Active, not recruiting NCT03684720 - Using 'Guided-Discovery-Learning' to Optimize and Maximize Transfer of Surgical Simulation N/A
Completed NCT05616065 - Bias Reduction in Academic Recruitment N/A
Completed NCT03718481 - Perceptions of the Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) in Surgical Training in the UK and Ireland
Recruiting NCT01972698 - Focused Cardiac and Lung Ultrasound in Anesthesia/Critical Care - The Role of Self-directed Simulation-assisted Training Compared to a Traditional Supervised Approach N/A
Completed NCT02754310 - Repeated Versus Varied Simulation Scenarios to Teach Medical Students the Management of a Pediatric Asthma Exacerbation N/A
Completed NCT03035175 - Using Video Laryngoscopy for Neonatal Intubation N/A
Completed NCT00465361 - Resident Surveillance of Pediatric Patient Developmental Status at the Two Month Preventive Care Visit N/A
Completed NCT00318279 - Evaluation of Surgical Simulator for Practicing a Vascular Anastomosis N/A
Recruiting NCT05817370 - Implementation of Anal Cancer Screening and Treatment in Nigeria N/A
Completed NCT05066204 - Evaluation of Different Teaching- and Learningmethods N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT06409273 - Hybrid Course Assessment and Evaluation N/A
Enrolling by invitation NCT06198491 - Evaluation of Educational Interventions Targeting Beliefs About Human Papillomavirus (HPV) N/A
Recruiting NCT03143699 - The Effect of Immediate Feedback on Long-term Blood Pressure Measurement Skills: a Randomized Controlled Trial N/A
Completed NCT05674500 - Coaching Language to Improve Endoscopy Training Quality N/A
Recruiting NCT04805372 - Video Demonstration and Video Feedback to Reduce Time to Perform Central Vein Cannulation in Junior Residents N/A
Completed NCT03650959 - Optimizing Resource Utilization During Proficiency-based Training of Suturing Skills to Medical Students Phase 3

External Links