In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 17, No. 3 ( 2022-3-24), p. e0265927-
Abstract:
This review evaluates the effectiveness of smartphone applications in improving academic performance and clinical practice among healthcare professionals and students. Methods This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Articles were retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane library through a comprehensive search strategy. Studies that included medical, dental, nursing, allied healthcare professional, undergraduates, postgraduates, and interns from the same disciplines who used mobile applications for their academic learning and/or daily clinical practice were considered. Results 52 studies with a total of 4057 learner participants were included in this review. 33 studies (15 RCTs, 1 cluster RCT, 7 quasi-experimental studies, 9 interventional cohort studies and 1 cross-sectional study) reported that mobile applications were an effective tool that contributed to a significant improvement in the knowledge level of the participants. The pooled effect of 15 studies with 962 participants showed that the knowledge score improved significantly in the group using mobile applications when compared to the group who did not use mobile applications (SMD = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.57 to1.31, P 〈 0.00001). 19 studies (11 RCTs, 3 quasi-experimental studies and 5 interventional cohort studies) reported that mobile applications were effective in significantly improving skills among the participants. Conclusion Mobile applications are effective tools in enhancing knowledge and skills. They can be considered as effective adjunct tools in medical education by considering their low expense, high versatility, reduced dependency on regional or site boundaries, online and offline, simulation, and flexible learning features of mobile apps.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.g003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.g004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.t002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s006
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s007
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s008
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s009
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0265927.s010
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2267670-3
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