Technology Use and Wellness Maintenance in a Medical Student Population

Introduction: Burnout now affects more than half of U.S. medical students, causing decreased resilience and coping ability. When these students become physicians, they are more likely to commit medical error and have decreased patient satisfaction. Studies in college students have shown that technology use may improve wellness and deter burnout; however, heretofore no studies have been conducted to understand if medical students use the same practices. Objective: Our specific aims were to survey medical students to identify whether they use technology to maintain their wellness, and to identify which technologies are the most effective for this purpose. Methods: We distributed an IRB-approved prospective survey with five sections ranging from assessing types of technology use to indices of burnout and resilience to 500 preclinical medical students at Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Results: At the time of the writing of this abstract, we do not have data points collected from this survey. We will collect 500 student surveys two weeks after distribution for analysis. Discussion: We will gather information on student technology use. We hope to identify which technologies allow certain students to avoid burnout, as indicated by high scores on resilience and burnout indices. This information will allow us to better understand ways medical students can avoid burnout both now and in their future careers to minimize its detrimental effects on patient care

The Effect of Display Size on Ultrasound Interpretation

Purpose: To assess how display size affects providers’ abilities to accurately interpret ultrasound (U/S) videos. U/S has become essential for patient evaluation in the emergency setting. Although newer devices that are smaller in size and affordable place the technology within the pockets of practitioners, it is necessary to assess how smaller size may impact image quality. Methods: The target learner population for this study includes all practitioners who perform point of care U/S. A prospective convenience sample of emergency providers were randomized to begin on either a phone-sized screen or a laptop-sized screen. Participants answered Yes or No in response to whether they identified free fluid, above and/or below the diaphragm on each of 50 unique right upper quadrant U/S videos, with 25 displayed per device. Researchers collected data on the speed of interpretation and participants\u27 experiences. Results and Conclusions: Prior to study initiation, 50% of participants felt display size would affect accuracy, 42.3% were unsure, and 7.7% felt it would not (n=52). The accuracy of interpretation for phone versus laptop display was 87.3% and 87.6%, respectively (p=0.84). Mean time spent with phone versus laptop display was 293s and 290s, respectively (p=0.66). Upon study completion, 48.1% of participants believed display size affected their ability to interpret the videos, 38.5% felt it did not, and 13.5% were unsure. The results of this study show no significant statistical difference in the accuracy of interpretation between screen sizes