Enrolled in UF's College of Pharmacy? There's an app for that.
This year, incoming students in the College will notice that their school-supply shopping list is a bit more expensive than previously.
Beginning fall 2009, all incoming PharmD students will be required to have an iPod touch or an iPhone.
UF is the second school to implement the requirement, following the University of Missouri's May decision, according to AppleInsider.com.
"These are the instruments at the forefront that are developing applications for medical uses by the hundreds," said College of Pharmacy Dean William Riffee, an iPhone user. "We want our students to become adept at using these mobile devices early on because we see this as the future in pharmacy practice."
Pharmacists in the future will rely on these devices to access patient medical records and verify prescriptions, he said.
Caitlin Dickens, a second-year pharmacy student, also sees the advantages of having an iPod touch in the classroom.
"It holds enough information to fill a dictionary, but it fits in your pocket," she said. "I can see how it would be useful to have a hand-held computer with you at all times."
Still, Dickens said she is grateful that she is already enrolled in the program and will not be mandated to buy one of the devices.
"To me, it's just an added expense that I would have to pay along with graduate tuition rate," she said.
The iPod touch starts at $229, and the iPhone starts at $99 with a new AT&T contract.
Thomas Munyer, a professor in the department of pharmacotherapy, said he believes the new technology will help in the classroom.
Students will use iPod touches or iPhones to participate in interactive quizzes during class and download free applications that will help first-year pharmacy students learn the names of various drugs, Munyer said.
He also said the college is developing a simulated patient that students will be introduced to at the beginning of class. Students will receive updates and messages about the status of the patient and its therapy throughout the semester.
"The primary learning objective here is to help our students learn the process of caring for and monitoring patients over different periods of time," Munyer said.
Lauren Wadsworth, a UF senior who will enter pharmacy school in the fall, said she thinks the new requirement is a good idea, though she's unsure how the device will benefit her classroom experience. The only instruction she has received so far is to download Epocrates, an application that helps determine correct medicine dosages, she said.
"Technology is always changing," she said. "If it's something I'll be using in the future in my professional career, why not learn to use it now?"
Wadsworth said she was fortunate to have received an iPod touch for Christmas last year, before she knew it would be required as part of her curriculum.
"I would probably be more irritated with the new rule if I had to go out and buy one," she said. "Luckily, I was prepared for the change."
But even with all of the new hi-tech devices and medical advances now available, Wadsworth said she still sees a way that technology can improve.
"The iPhones still can't take my tests for me," she said with a laugh. "For now, I guess I'll have to keep studying the old-fashioned way."
