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Profile of Educational Technology Use by Medical Students and Evaluation of a New Mobile Application Designed for the Study of Human Physiology

  • Education & Training
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Abstract

Nowadays, smartphones represent an invaluable tool to access educational material; however, the available information is not always accurate or evidence-based. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the use of technology by medical students and assess the effect of a newly developed mobile app for the study of human physiology. We used a standardised questionnaire to assess the profile of educational technology use, from which a mobile app (PhysioQuiz) was developed. The effectiveness and user opinion were assessed in a randomised controlled study (n = 110). Of 1022 students enrolled in medical school, 489 (47.9%) participated in the study. Of the respondents, 96.7% used mobile applications, with the main purpose being entertainment (94.7%) and study (81.9%). Only 6.1% reported use of physiology apps. PhysioQuiz use did not yield higher average grades (p = 0.48); however, user opinion demonstrated that it was useful for assisted learning (82.1%) and identification of non-learned content (78.6%) and considered a tool for self-assessment (89.3%). Mobile app use is widespread among medical students but there is a lack of human physiology education apps. A newly developed app for the study of human physiology was useful for assisted learning and considered a tool for self-assessment.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for funding the scholarship of André L. M. Silva, and to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for funding the scholarship of Cibele T. D. Ribeiro. This work was partially funded by the grant CP 01/2016-PPSUS - Decit/MS, CNPq, Fundação Araucária e Secretaria de Saúde do Paraná (SESA-PR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical College, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

    Erica Y. Oliveira & Nathalia I. Crosewski

  2. Department of Bioinformatics, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

    André L. M. Silva

  3. Gaduate Program in Physiology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

    Cibele T. D. Ribeiro, Camila M. de Oliveira, Rosalvo T. H. Fogaça & Fernando A. L. Dias

  4. Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Cel. Heraclito dos Santos, 100, Centro Politécnico, Jardim das Américas, Curitiba, PR, 81531-980, Brazil

    Fernando A. L. Dias

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  1. Erica Y. Oliveira
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  2. Nathalia I. Crosewski
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  3. André L. M. Silva
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  4. Cibele T. D. Ribeiro
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  5. Camila M. de Oliveira
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  6. Rosalvo T. H. Fogaça
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  7. Fernando A. L. Dias
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando A. L. Dias.

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Research involving human participants and/or animals

All procedures involved in the present study were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki 1975, updated in 2013, and Brazilian legislation. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Health Sciences Centre (#1.343.302/2015).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Oliveira, E.Y., Crosewski, N.I., Silva, A.L.M. et al. Profile of Educational Technology Use by Medical Students and Evaluation of a New Mobile Application Designed for the Study of Human Physiology. J Med Syst 43, 313 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-019-1438-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-019-1438-7

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