

Stanford School of Medicine is giving the iPad to all incoming medical students - mgh2
http://www.imedicalapps.com/2010/07/stanford-school-of-medicine-ipad-incoming-class/

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abstractbill
As far as I understand things (which might not be very far - I went to
university in the UK) American schools generally aren't something you get to
go to without paying. In which case it doesn't seem like the school is
_giving_ students iPads.

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johnswamps
Yes, medical school is ridiculously expensive, but what you're saying doesn't
necessarily follow. It's not like all their money comes from tuition and once
they spend all that money that's it. The medical school might be taking a loss
on the program, using grant money, etc. Maybe they did raise tuition $500.
There isn't enough data to tell.

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RK
My understanding is that medical school is ridiculously expensive, because it
costs so much to pay people with MD's, even if the just stand in front of a
room full of people for an hour and do absolutely nothing.

Other people trained in similar environments (physician assistants,
pharmacists, nurses) don't require significantly different materials for their
educations, but their tuitions are generally much cheaper. They also tend to
have few or no MD's teaching them.

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carbocation
Oh my, this is not the case. The clinical faculty are subsidizing the
education of the students whom they teach. Basically, our educators are the
same people who bring in revenue from patient care - they get paid much less
than they bring in. Those who don't do much patient care are still bringing in
gobs of revenue from their research grants.

I just wanted to make it clear that our educators are subsidizing us, not the
other way around.

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duck
Different school, but this has been discussed before -
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1231286>

I still think it is just a marketing tool which Apple has been very successful
in using. You don't see engineering schools "giving" every student a graphing
calculator, which to me would actually make more sense.

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mechanical_fish
_You don't see engineering schools "giving" every student a graphing
calculator..._

Alas for us nostalgic old-timers: They no longer need to do this, because in
the future every freshman will have already paid $2.99 or so for a smartphone
app that outperforms every graphing calculator I ever owned.

Yesterday I sold my last graphing calculator: A very nice HP that I won in a
raffle. It brings tears to my eyes, but I never use it for anything that the
iPad/iPhone and something like PCalc won't do just as well.

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wwortiz
I have a couple issues with that kind of software, right now I have two
calculators that I use on a regular basis as an engineering student an HP35s
for most calculations (RPN is crazy fast, and I need buttons so I don't think
I'd like phone software) and my TI89 which is basically pocket matlab and is
probably something that isn't going to move to phone software anytime soon.

As for schooling calculators will always be the norm as they don't have
wireless access (yet) and so on. I know no math classes really allow
calculators but plenty of math intensive classes require calculators to do
exams which is something a phone can't replace.

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timwiseman
_I know no math classes really allow calculators but plenty of math intensive
classes require calculators to do exams which is something a phone can't
replace._

I must beg to differ, the last time I took a math class that forbid
calculators was high school. Now, many math classes I have taken restrict the
type of calculators you can use, but that is different.

Of course, a calculator will do you little good in a class on theoretical
math, but they have been allowed at least in the math classes I have taken.

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krschultz
I dunno, I took 8 semesters of math in college and never used a calculator in
any of the classes. Didn't really use it on exams in other classes either -
everything was all variables. I did use it for homeworks. I'd be hard pressed
to replace it with a iPhone app though, for one thing my calculator is a lot
bigger and it is still pressed for space for buttons.

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carbocation
I'm a medical student, and I wouldn't want this forced upon me. If a school is
going to give me $500 worth of equipment, let me decide what it will be;
probably reference books or study guides.

In particular, I would not want this during years 1 and 2; perhaps in year 3
it would be useful if fully integrated into the patient database and order
system.

This frankly seems like a gimmick. Stanford needs to implement grades in years
3-4 to become more competitive for residency. That would be a much stronger
play to attract top students than this will be.

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curiousmonk
I would assume that the idea is that these med school students will carry
their iPad habit into their practices. If it's tough to get doctors to wash
their hands between patients or before surgery
([http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/science/09conv.html?_r=1&#...</a>),
what're the chances that the iPad gets washed? Smudge magnet and germ vector.

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scorpioxy
Slim to none.

There was one study done in the hospital that I work at(not public, sorry)
that showed that the doctors(not nurses or admin staff) were the ones not
complying with the hygiene requirements and they were the ones causing most
hospital acquired infections. Of course the doctors are not held liable for
such behaviour so nothing can be done to fix that.

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stcredzero
Prediction: something with just as nice a form factor but which allows easier
user <\--> programmer interaction through faster iteration and no interposed
controlling App Store will come to dominate as the medical field tablet.

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nkassis
I think there was an article on HN yesterday about the Justice Dept
threatening certain school for their use of kindle which were not adapted for
people with disabilities. This might trigger the same response.

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protomyth
Apple is a little more up on ADA then Amazon and the Kindle. Check:
<http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/accessibility.html>

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gte910h
I have problems with doctors using these devices with the lack of a
replaceable battery.

The current plan is you trade them in for a refurb one with a new battery when
your old one dies.

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cloudwalking
What's wrong with that? With the sealed battery, you can spill blood all over
your iPad and wipe it off, it'll work fine. After two years when the battery
only lasts three or five hours, erase the device and send it in for a
replacement. As long as they don't charge more than the battery + minimal
labor, it seems like a fair tradeoff.

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gte910h
"Erase" is a funny word. It doesn't actually wipe all the data when you
"erase" a device such as an ipad, it just marks the area as usable for
writing.

So a doctor will "erase it", and if people want to hunter for credit cards,
etc, they can scan the memory of the device after returning it.

There is a HUGE crime presence buying old hard drives looking for credit card
numbers, etc on them. No reason to not assume they'll do it with iPads too.

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NyxWulf
I am attending the University of Utah Executive MBA. Based on student
feedback, the incoming class will all receive a laptop and an iPad with their
readings and e-books pre-loaded on them. I already have my own iPad, and that
has been my preferred study method as much as possible. Almost everyone
disliked trying to use the Dell tablet for reading.

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MaysonL
Well: over half of all doctors in the US find that their smartphones or PDAs
are essential to their work[1], so it makes sense to start using them in med
school.

[1][http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-area-
news/ci_15678222?nc...](http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-area-
news/ci_15678222?nclick_check=1)

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eegilbert
And it only costs the students $300K.

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mpat
And all the 2nd year med students must finish their remaining three years
without "opportunities for efficient, mobile, and innovative learning."
Condolences, class of 2013.

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16s
They could probably give them all new cars and still make a profit :)

