Digital Doctor Bag
The 21st Century has introduced an era of technology integration into healthcare. Patients, physicians, and the entire interprofessional team engage technology to accomplish their day-to-day activities. The Digital Doctor Bag initiative harnesses the use of technology and provides easy access to software, digital medical devices, and communication tools that a medical student will need to be prepared for the modern healthcare landscape.
For over 100 years, the ‘black doctor bag’ has carried the tools of the physician and symbolized their work. Today we are training a generation of physicians who are adept in technology and prepared for a hi-tech practice leveraging digital home monitoring devices, telemedicine visits, and electronic medical records for asynchronous communications between patients and doctors.
Technology continues to advance rapidly. We are committed to educating the physicians of the future on leading edge advancements in both medical education and the practice of medicine. As a medical school, we believe that the development of programs like the Digital Doctor Bag will provide our medical students with the skills necessary to thrive in the transforming environment of health care.
Medical students are the future drivers of change in healthcare.
Recognizing this, we must embrace a generation that has utilized technology from their earliest years. As technology advances ever so quickly in our world, the advancement of medicine must follow suit. COMP and COMP-Northwest have made a commitment to be on the leading edge of these advancements to maintain a positive learning experience for our students. We truly believe that investing in programs like the Digital Doctor Bag will lead to the excellence that we expect from our osteopathic medical graduates.
Students
Faculty
College
Students: Our students have seamlessly integrated the Digital Doctor bag into their daily activities. During their pre clinical education they have fully leveraged the apple pencil utilizing it to take notes and annotate slides as they are following along with the professor’s lectures. The Anatomical sciences are somewhat unique to the health science education, and we have some stellar students drawing human anatomical graphics and sharing them with their classmates to serve as study guides in preparation for examinations. The iPad has served our students well during their examinations, providing the much-needed camera for remote proctoring. As well as accessing digital medical resources while out on clinical rotations. Access to e-books and our college’s learning management system through the iPad have also made it an essential device during their medical school curriculum.
Faculty: We have faculty champions that have found creative ways to integrate the iPad into their lesson plans and learning activities. They have used the Doceri app to annotate their lecture slides or to pull up a digital white board in the classroom. Others have built their own apps and deployed them through PowerApps so that their students can complete modules as an adjunct to their material. Our Anatomical Sciences team blended in an app on the iPad called Complete Anatomy to amplify the students’ knowledge of the human body. The Digital Doctor bag program allowed us to eliminate paper examinations. All students now take these exams on the iPad, merging the mobility of the iPad with the data capturing ability of apps like Examplify.
College: We have launched several programs built around the Digital Doctor Bag. COMP Connect is a communication app which provides a social media environment where students can interact with their peers, professors, and staff support. Student groups, clubs, and administrative offices leverage the capabilities of COMP Connect to host virtual events and push reminders to their devices. The app is also a repository of essential information housed in one location. With the iPad it is all at the tip of their fingers. We have also integrated the use of medical devices such as the Butterfly IQ Ultrasound probe into every students’ learning experience. The Butterfly IQ app on the iPad serves as the visualization tool to enhance their learning of point of care Ultrasound. The cornerstone of our Telemedicine Elective is a mounted iPad in our patient care facilities allowing students to remote into their clinical experience with a patient from offsite locations.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Digital Teaching Resources: Much like the progression of chalkboards to overhead projectors, to carousel slide projectors, PowerPoint teaching has also begun its evolution. Such capabilities are being replaced by online module platforms, adaptive learning scenarios, and live interactive discussions through video chatting tools. Academic institutions have had to keep pace with a learner who has engaged technology their entire life.
COMP Connect: Today more than ever, we are one college connected through our mission of healing and vision for the future of medicine. Through this new app and our current digital environment, we are in the process of truly becoming one community with one voice. COMP Connect provides a platform for us to do what is more important right now- support each other and stay connected.
Digital Medical Devices: The tools of trade are changing rapidly and being placed in the hands of patients, primary care physicians and emergency physicians on the front lines of care. Our office’s goal is to have our students engage these technologies early in their training to increase their familiarity. We also employ an approach that stimulates discussion of how these devices will be integrated in their future practices.
