Smartphones in Nursing Education

PHILLIPPI, JULIA C. MSN, CNM; WYATT, TAMI H. PhD, RN, CNE

 
Smartphones are a new technology similar to PDAs but with expanded functions and greater Internet access. This article explores the potential uses and issues surrounding the use of smartphones in nursing education. While the functions of smartphones, such as sending text messages, viewing videos, and access to the Internet, may seem purely recreational, they can be used within the nursing curriculum to engage students and reinforce learning at any time or location. Smartphones can be used for quick access to educational materials and guidelines during clinical, class, or clinical conference. Students can review instructional videos prior to performing skills and readily reach their clinical instructor via text message. Downloadable applications, subscriptions, and reference materials expand the smartphone functions even further. Common concerns about requiring smartphones in nursing education include cost, disease transmission, and equipment interference; however, there are many ways to overcome these barriers and provide students with constant access to current clinical evidence.

   

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Healthcare strives to be an evidence-based field. While there is scant evidence on smartphones, nursing should pioneer the use of this technology to encourage students to utilize all possible resources to expand and validate their knowledge base for patient care.

The smartphone can easily be integrated in nursing curricula. Students can use the smartphone to tally their clinical experience in terms of hours or patient encounters in real time. They can reference materials during clinic and clinical conference to enhance debriefing and student reflection. They can communicate with their instructor through texting and Twitter alerts. Applications can be used to make calculations and conversions quicker and more accurate. The proliferation of applications for specific tasks is expected to be enormous. Students can use study guide applications, access online textbooks, and even get directions to their clinical site. Classes can incorporate the device in 2-minute consults or interactive quizzes, when students use the device to answer a clinical question and energize classroom learning.

The vast majority of nursing information is changing rapidly. Preferred treatments, drug dosages, postsurgical care, and preventive healthcare regimens change dramatically every few years, and if experienced nurses relied solely on their memory, they would provide substandard care. Teaching nursing students a culture of reference can assist them in providing evidence-based care across their careers. With the large quality of materials to be learned by nursing students, it is ineffective to require students to memorize rapidly changing data. Consistent with the IOM Guidelines, budding nurses should be encouraged not to rely on their memory alone, but to consistently verify critical information. Smartphones allow students to rapidly confirm information, and supporting the use of smartphones teaches and fosters active learning and safe behaviors.