Pharmacy students’ use and perceptions of Apple mobile devices incorporated into a basic health science laboratory

Abstract Objective To describe pharmacy students’ use of mobile devices in a basic health science laboratory and to report the students’ perceptions on how solving cases with their mobile devices influenced their attitudes, abilities, and view on the use of mobile devices as tools for pharmacists. Methods First-year pharmacy students utilized mobile devices to solve clinical case studies in a basic health sciences laboratory. A pre-survey and two post-surveys were administered to assess the students’ comfort, awareness, use, and perceptions on the use of their mobile devices and apps. Results The pre-survey and first post-survey each had a response rate of 99%, and the second post-survey had a response rate of 100%. In comparing the pre-survey and first post-survey data, there was a statistically significant increase in the number of students that agreed or strongly agreed that they were more comfortable utilizing their mobile device ( p = 0.025), they were more aware of apps for pharmacists ( p p Conclusions The use of mobile devices to solve clinical cases in a first-year basic health science laboratory course was perceived as beneficial by students and influenced them to utilize their mobile device even more in a pharmacy practice setting.