Supporting handheld technologies in a medical school curriculum: lessons from three years of design, development and implementation

As PDA´s becomes increasingly accepted in clinical settings, medical schools are following suit by requiring or recommending PDA´s to enhance students´ clinical knowledge and skills. This paper examines the implementation of a PDA requirement at a leading US based medical school over three years. It explicates the complexity of diffusing a nomadic technology even in an educational environment generally receptive to new technologies. The outcomes of three years of specialized design and development for PDA´s illustrate the uniqueness of handheld technologies, requiring a much needed theory of mobile computing. The authors conclude that while PDA´s are successfully integrated in clinical settings, their value in medical education is less unambiguous.