A Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) systematic review of: What works best for health professions students using mobile (hand-held) devices for educational support on clinical placements? BEME Guide No. 52

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Practice points

For students on clinical placement, mobile devices particularly supported: assessment; communication; clinical decision-making; logbook/notetaking; and accessing information. Informal and hidden curricula included: — concerns about: disapproval; confidentiality and privacy; security — distraction by social connectivity and busy clinical settings; — mixed messages about policy. Mobile devices provide potentially powerful educational support for improving service contribution via: metalearning and student transition; mentoring and sharing with others; giving patients, carers, or relatives point-of-care support; and improving patient safety and quality of care. Explicit policy must tackle informal and hidden curricula and promote: how to use mobile devices in the clinical setting; positive role-modelling; infection control, confidentiality, and security aspects; and professional identity development and maintaining therapeutic, work, and educational relationships. Students may need time and training in best use of the device, associated applications, technology transitions, security, and confidentiality.

Figure 1. Search strategy to select n = 45 primary research and n = 4 systematic reviews: “What works best for health professions students using mobile (hand-held) devices for educational support on clinical placements?”.

Figure 2. Snippets from synthesis.