JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The notion of “anytime, anyplace” communication is characteristic of the current generation of learners and has facilitated the growth and integration of a blended or hybrid learning platform in multiple educational settings. However, there are limited reports and use of this communication platform in clinical inpatient medical education.

Objective:

The setting of a high demand inpatient clinical rotation is ideal for the use of collaborative software and this integration is expected to positively influence medical education.

Methods:

During an inpatient Internal Medicine rotation, faculty and learners jointly utilized a collaborative software for educational purposes, and a post-rotation survey tool was used to measure educational influence.

Results:

The integration of a collaborative software application during clinical rotations improved the learning experience based on the post-rotation survey. Learning climate, communication of rotation goals, and self-directed learning all scored favorably, while feedback received mixed findings. The learners enthusiastically accepted the practical use of this tool for both communication and information sharing.

Conclusions:

This generation of learners is used to frequent electronic communication and appeared to be highly receptive to this intervention designed to improve clinical education during active patient care. Adding effective blended learning features in a traditional clinical setting is achievable.