Grunigen Medical Library iPad Loan Program and the New Paradigm of Medical Education

ipad loan programThe UCI Libraries implemented its iPad Loan program (http://grunigen.lib.uci.edu/services/mobile-devices.html) at the Grunigen Medical Library (GML) shortly after UCI School of Medicine (SOM) announced its iMedEduc, iPad curriculum. The iPad loan service provides eight iPads for UCI faculty, staff, and students to check out for 3-day loan periods. All iPads are configured for onsite and remote access to the UCI Libraries' restricted resources and are loaded with 60+ medical apps that are either required or recommended for the clinical clerkship programs.

SOM launched its iMedEd Initiative in the Fall of 2010 transforming the traditional medical school curriculum into digital content. The School became one of the first in the nation to build a completely digital, interactive learning environment for the medical student class of 2014. All 104 medical students and their faculty received their own iPads loaded with course materials and digital textbooks needed for the first year of medical school. Thanks to a substantial donation, SOM was able to expand this program into its second year and is continuing it into the third and fourth-year clerkships in areas such as clinical research and patient care. This new paradigm has drawn the interest of other UCIMC divisions as well. In recent months, there have been growing numbers of departments (e.g., Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Surgery, and Urology), which are in the process of implementing iPads for their residency training programs.

ipad loan programSince the launching of the iMedEdu Initiative, the UCI Libraries continue to support the research, teaching, and patient care needs of SOM and UCIMC. The medical librarians have worked diligently with faculty of the SOM Instructional Technology Team to identify and expand the digital contents of medical texts and databases for the iPad curriculum. UCI iPad users have convenient access to a wide variety of e-resources including the LANGE CURRENT Series via AccessMedicine and AccessSurgery, ICD 9, Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2013, Diagnosaurus, and VisualDx.

For more information about mobile resources, visit GML's subject page for Mobile Resources in Medicine (http://libguides.lib.uci.edu/pda).

If you have questions about the GML iPad loan service or e-resources, contact our medical librarians, Steve Clancy (x47309 or sclancy@uci.edu) or Linda Murphy (x46419 or lmurphy@uci.edu).