This week the University of California, Los Angeles School of Nursing equipped its third year undergraduate students and first-year master's entry clinical nursing students with iPod touch devices. Some 118 of the students received the devices during a robing ceremony where each student is given a white coat to "signify their journey from classroom to the clinical setting," Courtney Lyder the dean of the school stated.
"We want to make sure that we provide them with the tools to be successful and prepare them for 21st-century health care," Lyder said. "Taking care of patients is a tremendous responsibility," Lyder said. "While we still encourage the traditional methods of diagnosis, there is an overwhelming amount of medical information available. Providing each student with new technology for use at the bedside can only improve patient safety and the delivery of care."
The devices came preloaded with three medical apps:
Nursing Central: Provides everything the nurse needs — nursing assessment, nursing diagnoses and nursing procedures. It includes the Davis Drug Guide, lab and diagnostic tests, a diseases and disorders reference, and Taber's Medical Dictionary. There is also a Medline Journal citation and study-abstract explorer.
Medical Spanish: Translates English questions and phrases into Spanish to support Spanish-speaking patients. With Hispanics now constituting nearly half the population in Southern California, having the ability to communicate successfully with patients is critical to delivering the proper care. The app includes more than 3,000 phrases.
NCLEX Review: This comprehensive review is what students study before taking the California Nursing Board Examination to become licensed as registered nurses.
