Text messaging in medical education.

Today’s medical students and residents are from the first generation of digital natives: those who grew up with cell phones, text messaging, and the Internet. They are comfortable with e-innovation, are increasingly disengaged from traditional teaching methods within medical schools and residency programs, and are quick to embrace new teaching technologies. Students instead stream lectures from home, use electronic devices to access medical journals online, and use “smart” phone applications during rounds. Adapting teaching methods within medical schools and residencies to connect with this generation of e-learners is challenging. Text messaging (short message service) offers a method of bridging the gap between traditional teaching styles and the educational styles of millennial learners because of its ease, familiarity, and asynchronous nature. Among adults aged 18 to 29 years, 94% own a cell phone, and of those, 97% send and receive text messages. Some residency programs even provide trainees with smart phones. The prevalence, acceptance, and low cost of text messaging make it particularly inviting as a potentially high-yield learning tool in medical education.