Editor’s Note: The following article is excerpted from PC Advisor.
Medical students at the University of Leeds are being given Apple iPhones to ensure they can access text books when away from campus.
The 520 3GS handsets, which will be given to fourth and fifth year students, are loaded with apps that offer access to reference materials so students can continue learning even when on work placements in hospital wards and GP surgeries.
The university also believes the iPhones, which must be returned when students graduate, will ensure students can keep in touch with tutors and take notes while on wards.
Each handset and connection package will cost the university £380, which will total less than the £50,000 per year it costs to train doctors.
“This will be the first time that a UK medical school has provided undergraduates with all the tools they need to study off-campus via mobile phone technology,” the university said.
“By equipping our students with smartphones, we are putting a whole suite of training tools and educational resources in the palm of their hand,” added Professor David Cottrell, Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds.
The university said the phones would be remotely wiped if lost or stolen, ensuring data does not fall into the wrong hands, and students will not be able to access patient databases from the handsets.