Personal Digital Assistants in medical education and practice

This paper reports on a current project, KNOWMOBILE, that explores how wireless and mobile technologies, in this case how Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) may be useful in medical education and clinical practice, particularly to access net-based information. KNOWMOBILE is a research collaboration involving academic and industrial partners which aims to support Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and the integration of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) in medical education reform in Norway. What does ‘just-in-time’ access to information mean in clinical settings? How can health professionals be helped with access to the most up-to-date medical information? From a preliminary analysis of the problems of PDAs in use — and nonuse — problems regarding information and communication infrastructure discussed that require work from a social historical interpretation of ‘infrastructures’ in order to enhance design perspectives and directions for future research. It is concluded that the PDAs should not be regarded as Personal Digital Assistants, but rather as gateways in complicated webs of interdependent technical and social networks.