J. Savoy1, D. Ballard2, C. Carroll1, A. Dubose1, G. Caldito1, N. Samra1 1Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center,Shreveport, LA, USA 2Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,Mallinckrodt Institute Of Radiology,St. Louis, MO, USA
Introduction: 100% of U.S. adults ages 18-29 own a cellphone with 94% of those being smartphones. The ubiquitous presence of smartphones makes them a convenient educational tool and communication platform for surgical residents and medical students. There is a growing area of research investigating smart phones and their use as educational tools. A text message based educational initiative was launched at our institution to reinforce key points of trainee’s observed cases or patient presentations (termed "academic epinephrine"). This study was designed to evaluate medical trainees’ opinions and experiences with text messaging for educational purposes.
Methods: This was an IRB approved, single site study. Included in the study were LSUHSC Shreveport School of Medicine 3rd and 4th year medical students on their surgery rotations, as well as surgery residents. Subjects were recruited via email. An anonymous, cross-sectional, web-based survey was emailed to medical trainees between March and June of 2017. Statements in the survey were scored on a 5-point Likert scale regarding experiences and opinions on the topic of smartphone use and text messaging for educational purposes. We also aimed to address concern about text messaging as a possible invasion of a trainee's privacy (as indicated in our literature review) by including this as one of the items in our survey.
Results:Among the 69 respondents who were texted educational materials, the agreement proportions for items favoring text messaging and the disagreement proportion on whether text messaging is an invasion of privacy were all significantly greater than 50%. All observed proportions were greater than 90%. Among the 35 respondents who were not texted educational materials, the agreement proportions for items favoring text messaging and the disagreement proportion on whether text messaging is an invasion of privacy were all significantly greater than 50%. All observed proportions were greater than 88%.
Conclusion:In this study, medical students and surgical residents viewed text messaging as a valuable tool and supplement for education. The majority of trainees who were not texted educational material were interested in participating in the future and saw text messaging for educational purposes as a good idea. An overwhelming majority of medical trainees within the study did not see text messaging for educational purposes as a violation of their privacy. However, the 3% minority indicates the importance of an opt in policy for future text message/smart phone based educational programs. Future initiatives to substantiate this finding should include objective testing of text messaging/smart phones for educational uses with or without randomization.
