We currently live in a Web 2.0 world where many learners find Facebook, Twitter and text messaging to be the preferred channels for delivering information and communicating ideas. In his book, The World Is Open, Curtis Bonk (2011) captures the essence of this new age of technology by stating that “anyone can now learn anything from anyone at anytime.” In the midst of this explosion of digitized information, there has been an increasing availability of electronic information access for health care providers at the point-of-care. The development of electronic health records, computers, mobile devices and other technology tools within the care environment is proving to be vital in improving the quality of care delivery and the provider’s productivity. This month’s POGOe Editor’s Choice highlights one of these technologies – The University of Texas Medical School at Houston’s Gems & Pearls Mobile App Lite v1. This “app” which is actually a website optimized for use on mobile devices running iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, is designed to enhance clinician knowledge and skills in the care of older adults. This is a fully functional beta version that contains a limited selection of the gems and pearls in geriatrics and palliative care. It has been released primarily to test functionality and ease of use.
After accessing the website on the browser of your mobile device, the user is able to navigate through various areas and links by multi-touch gestures that touch-screen users are quite familiar with. The content is divided into general topic areas: Current Issues in Aging, Approach to the Patient, Care Systems, Syndromes, Psychiatry and Disease. Each topic area has 2 to 6 sub-topics that start with a gem (for geriatrics) or pearl (for palliative care) followed by a short summary and a list of references. The summaries are very short and focus on fundamental biomedical aspects of aging, geriatric assessment, and care coordination. These concise summaries are akin to a pocket card. Pages can be swiped sideways to navigate and pages scroll vertically with up/down swiping. Supplementary page navigation is available by using the ‘continue’ or ‘next/previous’ buttons. The layout appears to be elastic as one can change the text size display, although one cannot use the pinch/spread gestures. Several helpful hyperlinks direct the user to other pertinent content/topic areas.
However as this is a beta version it comes with some technical issues. The app takes a long time to load when first accessed, but once inside the app, content seems to load pretty quickly. It can be confusing to determine which items on the display can be swiped for navigation. The layout on the screen can be challenging when viewing on a smart phone, especially in landscape. The large image that accompanies each pearl or gem reduces the space for the actual summary to appear. The app appears to be best suited for viewing on a tablet.
These are minor quibbles about this innovative and very current method of information delivery of AAMC/ACMGE competencies on geriatric and/or palliative topics. This was voted as the 3rd Best Educational Product by over 200 geriatrics educators from 46 US medical schools in our October 2011 Reynolds Grantees Meeting. POGOe is looking forward to this app’s release version but for now, you can get the app right here for FREE!
References:
Bonk, C. J. (2011, June). The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
After accessing the website on the browser of your mobile device, the user is able to navigate through various areas and links by multi-touch gestures that touch-screen users are quite familiar with. The content is divided into general topic areas: Current Issues in Aging, Approach to the Patient, Care Systems, Syndromes, Psychiatry and Disease. Each topic area has 2 to 6 sub-topics that start with a gem (for geriatrics) or pearl (for palliative care) followed by a short summary and a list of references. The summaries are very short and focus on fundamental biomedical aspects of aging, geriatric assessment, and care coordination. These concise summaries are akin to a pocket card. Pages can be swiped sideways to navigate and pages scroll vertically with up/down swiping. Supplementary page navigation is available by using the ‘continue’ or ‘next/previous’ buttons. The layout appears to be elastic as one can change the text size display, although one cannot use the pinch/spread gestures. Several helpful hyperlinks direct the user to other pertinent content/topic areas.
However as this is a beta version it comes with some technical issues. The app takes a long time to load when first accessed, but once inside the app, content seems to load pretty quickly. It can be confusing to determine which items on the display can be swiped for navigation. The layout on the screen can be challenging when viewing on a smart phone, especially in landscape. The large image that accompanies each pearl or gem reduces the space for the actual summary to appear. The app appears to be best suited for viewing on a tablet.
These are minor quibbles about this innovative and very current method of information delivery of AAMC/ACMGE competencies on geriatric and/or palliative topics. This was voted as the 3rd Best Educational Product by over 200 geriatrics educators from 46 US medical schools in our October 2011 Reynolds Grantees Meeting. POGOe is looking forward to this app’s release version but for now, you can get the app right here for FREE!
References:
Bonk, C. J. (2011, June). The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.