The world has gone mobile-first, and medical education is inevitably going that way too.

We have just taken another step to make that happen.  Complementing the mobile field note logger we have with T-Res, we’re soon releasing the T-Res Eval app out of beta (Currently only for iOS.  Look up T-Res 2 in the App Store).

We’d like to give you a preview.

Let’s take a look at the demo server of one of the programs that currently is configured to use mobile evaluations:  UBC’s Midwifery program. Both the learner and preceptor have this app in on their phones.  Either one can create an activity to be evaluated.  In this demo, the learner has submitted an activity for evaluation to the preceptor.  Image 1 below shows the design of the app from the point of view of a preceptor receiving the assessment notification.  You can see just under the header, there is an indication that 13 evaluations are pending, with the latest one from this learner at the top.

Let’s take a look at the workflow and how one gets to submit an activity for evaluation.  In the field note, all the information that you would expect to be part of an activity report: date and preceptor (it should be noted that Midwifery is slightly different from most disciplines, as there are two lists for supervisors that are used simultaneously:  the supervising midwife and the preceptor aren’t one and the same).

As mentioned, the activity form can be filled out by either preceptor or learner.  In the case of this example, the student has already filled out the note and sent it along to the preceptor.  The preceptor reviews the details of the field note, and fills a few fields him- or herself, if desired.  The preceptor can add a note in Preceptor Notes which is available for everyone to see (learner, site director, program director).  The preceptor also has the option to fill in Private Notes, which are only ever available to be seen by the preceptor (the learner, by the way, also has a Private Notes section on the field note).

Once the preceptor determines that 1) the field note is accurate and 2) completes the evaluation, she is ready to simply push the button that reads Review Complete.  The evaluation saves and the list immediately auto-updates to show that the evaluation is now ‘Complete’.

These mobile evaluations present a myriad of advantages for programs as discussed in a previous article.  Mobile capabilities have been shown to have a statistically-relevant effect on learning and provide significant advantages, such as enabling ‘situated and contextual learning’.  Other advantages include a better quality of feedback provided to students, promote bidirectional feedback, and higher data integrity.

Want a demo?  Contact us!