Saturday, March 5, 2011

A Case for mLearning in Healthcare

The community hospital where I work isn't ready for mobile learning yet; but, the potential is exciting. Every twist in hardware innovation and usage appears to offer a new educational tool.

This week, what caught my eye was the blurb for a content creation program that now includes a location trigger. So, potentially, when one of our staff approaches a patient room where airborne precautions
are in place, their smartphone or other mobile device(i.e. tablet) will notify them. The notification then links to a mini-course or checklist of required actions before entering that room. They could be notified upon entering or leaving any patient room as a reminder for handwashing, the single most important (and ignored) patient safety rule that exists.

These scenarios could be listed for pages. There are obstacles--is the GPS accurate enough to within 15 feet? What about the Infection control concerns around the phones themselves. It going to be handled before and after hand-washing. Do we use voice command and bluetooth headset? Tougher questions than that will arise.

Even before debates over the use of social tools in a healthcare setting wane, mLearning projects will crop up to explore the growing potential.

No comments:

Post a Comment