We truly are living during a digital revolution. It seems every time you open the news – on the web of course – there is yet another new use for one of the many gadgets we all have in our pockets. Today I’d like to share two articles worth checking out about how healthcare, the future destination for your students, is being shaped by the digital revolution.
The first, is about Dr. Eric Topol. In November, I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Topol speak about the future of wireless medicine at the AAMC Annual Meeting. He demonstrated for us how his iPhone could take a cardiogram, and in the controlled environment of the plenary session it all made sense. But I left thinking, “how will this work practically.” Well, as you can read about in the article, Dr. Topol proved his own point when he came to the rescue of a passenger at 30,000 feet by using the exact same device to confirm that the patient was indeed having a heart attack and acted accordingly.
For our current physicians and health care providers, the use of such digital devices is undergoing a period of integration and adoption. After all, the stethoscope has worked well for hundreds of years, why go digital if you don’t have to, right?
But there is a new generation of physicians being trained as we speak, and one school is leading the way and reinventing the way medicine is taught. UC Irvine School of Medicine’s iMedEd Initiative has recently been selected as an Apple Distinguished Program for its use of iPad technology that is integrated into their curriculum. Students literally have all of their textbooks, tools, and devices at their finger tips! Most notable about UCI’s program is the fact that participating students scored an average of 23% higher on their national exams than students not in the program but who entered with similar MCAT scores and GPAs. I would highly encourage you read the article and ask yourself, “how can I make my student’s experience even more rich through technology?” Even more, let’s share what we are already doing as we groom the next generation of physicians that will practice in the digital age!
