REVIEW ARTICLE
“Apps, Phones and Tabs” the Role of Technology in Bedside Teaching
LC Hughes1, *, M Malahias2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2016Volume: 3
Issue: Suppl-3, M7
First Page: 328
Last Page: 336
Publisher ID: MEDJ-3-328
DOI: 10.2174/1874220301603010328
Article History:
Received Date: 07/04/2015Revision Received Date: 17/09/2016
Acceptance Date: 17/09/2016
Electronic publication date: 27/12/2016
Collection year: 2016

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Bedside teaching is a mainstay of medical education. The development of clinical and practical skills, the use of patient centered care and the team approach cannot be underestimated, although bedside teaching has seen a decline over the recent period. This is possibly due to a combination of patient embarrassment, the pressure placed on doctors to maximize patient treatment time and shorten their stay in hospital, and the recognized effect on training by the European Working Time Directive.
Technology has strongly influenced the development of medicine over the ages, and since the introduction of mobile technology, it has advanced dramatically over the last two decades. The ease of access to a worldwide source of medical opinion has meant that education for both doctors and patients can be hand held and ever present, including at the bedside, with smartphones and tablet computers now an integral part of modern day life.
This review will focus on the potential role and ability of the app to modernise a traditional teaching method, both for the junior doctor and medical student and for the impact on patient education.