Use of mobile applications in advanced practice post graduate fellowships

Abstract Background Mobile applications have emerged as a flexible and effective platform for supporting medical education. Digital tools to support learning can reduce cognitive load but these tools should be designed to support—not replace—clinical reasoning. Methods We evaluated the use of a single-center academic medical center post-graduate fellowship mobile application designed to serve as a centralized resource for specialty practice curricula, condensed orientation materials, learner experience tracking, and administrative oversight. User statistics were collected through the mobile application platform and analyzed by month. The primary educational resource was the specialty curriculum stored in the mobile application. A total of 1,776 user survey responses were reviewed from 2019–2026. Survey results on self-reported ability to critically analyze data and develop a differential diagnosis from the first three months of the fellowship were compared to the last three months using the Welch’s’ two-sample T test. Survey data measuring their impression of the educational resources available to support clinical care were measured on a scale from 0–100 and collected monthly. Survey scores were trended by year with a one-way ANOVA comparing mean scores. Results Most users accessed the application through a mobile device (85%). Application utilization was highest between December and January, corresponding with the onboarding period for new fellows. This trend aligned with established patterns of reference material use for specialty training. Following implementation of the mobile application, survey response rates for monthly learner evaluations were 98%, greatly exceeding typical survey participation rates. The mean score on clinical competence rose from 72.9 among surveys completed in the first quarter to 87.9 among surveys completed in the last quarter, a statistically significant improvement (Welch's t-test, p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in scores measuring educational resources across survey years ( p < 0.001), indicating that average responses were not consistent from year to year (mean score 85.7 out of 100). Conclusions These findings suggest that mobile applications can serve as a highly effective tool for the administration and support of post-graduate medical education programs.