Smart Device Use Across the Curriculum: From Classroom to Clinical Practice Point-of-Care

Barry, Maureen A.

Monday, 18 November 2013

Maureen A. Barry, RN, MScN¹
Sarah Johnston, RN, MN²
Michelle Lalonde, RN, MN¹
Erin Vandeven - Soble, RN, MN¹
(1)Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
(2)Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Learning Objective 1: Describe the use of smart technology (e.g. smart phones, iPod touch) to actively engage nursing students in their learning across the curriculum.

Learning Objective 2: Understand methods of developing stronger information literacy skills among faculty, students and clinical instructors.

Nursing students need to make informed clinical decisions on the basis of evidence and smart technology can allow them to access such evidence anywhere. It is unclear how much nursing students are currently utilising recommended textbooks with internet resources so readily available. Use of internet resources raises the question of the quality of information used to inform clinical practice. Students are often not engaging in complex learning and sometimes lack strong information literacy skills. Information literacy skills involve the ability to know when information is needed and the ability to find, retrieve, analyse and as well as use the needed information effectively.

The goal of this research project was to actively engage a group of undergraduate nursing students in their learning and ultimately in their clinical practice by enabling them to use smart devices (e.g. smart phones, iPod touch) to gather multiple sources of evidence/information across classroom, clinical and simulation laboratory settings. Students participants used their own devices (or the device provided through this study if a device was not accessible to them) in a variety of learning environments. Smart device use had traditionally not been permitted for nursing students in clinical practice areas nor in the simulation laboratory. Although some students may have access to devices in classes and seminar, the type and quality of resources used by the students was unknown. Faculty worked with a liaison librarian and two clinical partner institutions to develop strong information literacy skills among the students, faculty and clinical instructors involved in the project. Participants had access to high-quality online library resources, current nursing software resources to support evidence-based learning and practice, and some funding to purchase additional healthcare resources or applications (apps) for their devices. Preliminary data from the study will be discussed.

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