Kindles in Clinical Settings Research Project

Objective:
To improve its services, the Medical Sciences Library is conducting a research project to determine if Kindles can benefit medical students and residents, and if so, how. Kindles are highly compact and portable, able to hold thousands of titles. They may be an efficient means for students and residents to carry and conveniently access medical textbooks to aid in student learning in the medical classroom and in patient care in the clinic.

Methods:
Six Kindles, purchased by MSL, were loaded with twelve medical textbook Kindle titles. These titles were selected based on availability in MSL’s print and electronic collection, as well as in Kindle format.

Series of two focus groups:

Group 1: Students in a College of Medicine 4th-year elective will be offered a module comparing the same medical textbooks in print, online, and on a Kindle. Student identification will be stripped before the completed modules are submitted to the library.

Group 2: Residents at a local hospital will be offered a three-week loan of a Kindle loaded with medical textbooks. Residents will then be asked to complete an anonymous online survey about their experience.

Preliminary Results:
Consistently, medical students value the Kindle’s portability, but most prefer print or online textbooks due to the Kindle’s limited navigation capabilities and lack of color for medical illustrations. Work with the residents is still in progress.

Attachments:
See attachments below for focus group instructions (including list of textbooks up-loaded to Kindles).

Project Team:
Suzanne Shurtz, Instructional Services Librarian (contact)
sshurtz@medlib.tamu.edu, 979-845-7439
Becky McKay, Outreach Librarian