The CyberDoc project: using portable computing to enhance a community-based primary care clerkship.
In July 1995, MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine of the Allegheny University of the Health Sciences introduced its first-ever required clerkship in family medicine. It was decided that computer skills and applications would be an integral part of this rotation, and a special program, CyberDoc, was developed for the clerkship by some of the university's informatics professionals and family medicine faculty. CyberDoc is a suite of laptop-computer applications, based almost exclusively on "off-the-shelf" database and connectivity programs and designed expressly for students at community-based training sites. CyberDoc allows faculty members to track students' progress at off-site clerkships, and allows the students to access pharmaceutical and drug-interaction databases, the university's online academic information system (including MEDLINE), all basic Internet functions, e-mail, and an array of other applications. The authors briefly describe the background, goals, and structure of the CyberDoc project, as well as the preliminary outcomes of CyberDoc's pilot year.
Maulitz
R C
RC
Clinical and Programs, Allegheny University of the Health Sciences (AUHS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. maulitz@allegheny.edu
Ohles
J A
JA
Schnuth
R L
RL
Lipsky
M S
MS
Grealish
R J
RJ
D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003154:Community Medicine / Q000193:education; D003200:Computer User Training; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000193:education*; D008838:Microcomputers; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation