The effect of mobile application education on learning Community medicine course in internship students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences

According to educational topics and short duration in community medicine course, a practical and concise reference with easy usability in a practical work environment is needed. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of education through mobile phone software on learning community medicine course in internship students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences in 2018.

In this field trial study, medical students in the community medicine internship department were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The application containing educational materials was designed according to the curriculum topics of the internship course and was installed in the mobile phones of the students of the intervention group before entering the educational field. The results of the end-of-course exam of the two groups were compared .Also The clinical education status questionnaire (DREEM) was completed by students. Data were analyzed using an independent test, Mann-Whitney U and X2 at a significance level of α = 0.05 in SPSS software (16

A total of 132 student with a mean age of 22.9 ± 0.65 years participated in the study. The final score of the Intervention group was 16.81 ± 1.84 and the control group was 16.16 ± 1.64 which was significantly higher in the intervention group (P = 0.03). The mean score of clinical education status was 132.13 ± 4.37 out of 200. The mean score of clinical education status and its dimensions were not significantly different between the two groups. (p>0.05).

The use of mobile application has improved the score of students in social medicine internships and can improve learning by educational planning and production of educational software.