onthewards app for iPhone and iPad

The transition from medical school to internship is often difficult. Most junior doctors feel unprepared when they start on the wards despite the long years of study and an appropriate knowledge base. It is the application of knowledge and ability to prioritise the multiple competing demands, that is challenging. The development of the necessary knowledge and skills to help interns survive on the ward is learnt predominantly through experience and from senior colleagues through the apprenticeship model .

Most learning in internship occurs at work on the ward. A formal education program can help to embed knowledge and safe practice but many interns struggle to regularly attend hospital based lectures. This has led to increasing interest from medical educators to move away from traditional lectures and use alternative methods of delivering educational content such as podcasts. This has been associated with an explosion in free open access medical (FOAM) education resources. However, few are aim at generalist junior doctors. The development of this website plans to address this gap and improve the availability of resources aimed at junior doctors. Most of the educational content and have been selected by junior doctors for junior doctors.

onthewards originated from some locally produced podcasts for junior doctors at Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital. There was such interest from doctors at other hospitals that we decided to remove the passwords and make it available to everyone. The content on the website was proving very useful to doctors but there were lots of requests to have it more accessible and integrated on their phones so hence we developed this app which allows you to download key onthewards content and listen or read it offline.

There will also be some blogs (ontheblogs) on medical education topics relevant to junior doctors and their supervisors. Career development (onthejobs) is especially important for junior doctors with the increasing competition for vocational jobs. The website will give you expert tips on how to give you the best chance of securing your desired job.

Continued use of GPS running in the background for this app can dramatically decrease battery life.