Stanford Handing Out iPads to Incoming August Class

The Stanford University School of Medicine has announced plans to distribute iPads to its incoming class of first-year medical school and master’s of medicine students during their orientation period. The Apple tablets will be handed to 91 individuals this month as part of a trial program to integrate the device into academics.

“We want to explore the use of iPads and other technologies to help students access the enormous amount of medical knowledge that is being produced constantly,” said Charles Prober, MD, the school’s senior associate dean for medical education. “Part of the challenge facing medical students, and all doctors, is the overwhelming amount of information. Devices like the iPad may be able to help users access that pool of knowledge.”

Prober claims the population of new students is extremely tech-savvy, therefore it makes perfect sense to teach them through the use of such electronic devices as the iPad. Folks become familiar with its interface easily, while many should already be acquainted with iOS, so it should be a smooth transition, the report by Stanford University suggests. Prober added “We can either say, ‘That’s silly. They have to learn the old-fashioned way.’ Or we embrace where they are.” Students will be monitored via surveys so that the school can determine how helpful iPads really are. Prober did point out that past experiments with Amazon Kindle devices haven’t been successful.

“We really don’t know yet how the incoming medical students will use them,” said Henry Lowe, MD, senior associate dean for information resources and technology. The physician owns an iPad himself and claims to have found the device to be extremely helpful.

“Physicians are a mobile group,” Lowe said. “They’re moving around from clinic to clinic, from patient to patient. … I’ve seen a variety of reports from across the country saying that physicians have seized on the iPad as a helpful device.”

A Stanford University student said, “Pretty much this is a perfect tool for what I need to do.” For Stesha Doku, a 23-year-old, second-year Stanford medical student from North Carolina who recently bought an iPad, there’s no question that Apple’s tablet is helpful with her medical education. “I use it for reviewing slides from last year, for saving everything in one place. I probably won’t use my laptop in class anymore.”

Doku added: “Especially in medicine, we’re using so many different resources, including all the syllabuses and slides. I’m able to pull them up and search them whenever I need to. It’s a fantastic idea.”