Technology Improvement Award 70

Dahlgren Memorial Library DML at Georgetown University Medical Center GUMC plans to seek funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern/Atlantic Region NNLM SEA for a project designed to deploy and assess the utility of iPad Mini tablet devices for use by 5 residents in the Neurosurgery Residency Training Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital MGUH in Washington, DC. When the iPad mini devices were released by Apple, Inc. in early November 2012 the devices seemed to possess the perfect synergy filling the need for a device which could be easily accessed and used in a busy clinical setting due to the smaller screen and lighter weight in comparison to the bulkier 1st through 4th generation iPads. The smaller and more streamline design of the iPad mini devices seemed to suggest the ergonomically optimal clinical tool for use in a point-of-care setting in which the device could be easily stored in a clinician's white coat and could be held in one hand for rapid retrieval and use while writing or entering data into an electronic health record. Due to the recent availability of the iPad mini devices little data has been tabulated or studies conducted to determine the clinical utility of these devices. Niehaus et al. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Resident Use of iPad Mini Mobile Devices. PM R. 2015 May;75:512-8. PubMed PMID: 25661459 states there is minimal research on the use of smaller tablet devices in residency programs, and most of the previous studies were conducted with standard-sized iPad tablet devices. DML staff working with clinicians at GUMC and MGUH propose the purchase and deployment of the devices and to study their utility in a busy, point-of-care clinical setting as the Residents rotate through the Clinical Neurosurgery Service at MGUH, MedStar Washington Hospital Center MWHC and 86's National Medical Center CNMC, both in Washington DC.