Development and Beta Testing of Applications for Direct Trainee Observation in Medical Education Using an iPad Platform

Direct observation of clinical skills, either in clinical settings or during medical exams, plays a key role in education and assessment of residents in General Internal Medicine. The Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (CEX) is an educational tool, for clinical skills assessment, that facilitates learning and allows residents to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of their clinical performance.Traditionally, direct observation has relied on paper-based documentation and the overall process of data collection, archiving, entry and analysis of Mini-CEX results has proven to be very costly and time-consuming. The rapid development of information systems and the advancement of technologies, provide the vast potential for improvement in teaching practices including medical education. Thus, the development of an electronic application of the Mini-CEX will facilitate the process of data collection and improve the quality of medical training. Several interviews were conducted to properly extract user needs and system requirements, after which the application was developed. The tool was implemented on an iPad platform and tested on a sample of five representative subjects. Interview and usability results revealed positive attitudes towards the application and its potential improvement in patient care.