Development and Validation of a Smartphone Application for Orthopedic Residency Education

Abstract: Introduction: Mobile learning offers several benefits, such as new learning environments. We developed and validated a smartphone application for orthopedics and traumatology residents in an attempt to assist their study and, consequently, pass the Board of Orthopedics and Traumatology Exam. Methods: quantitative study, aimed at the validation of a mobile application. It was developed for the iOS® and Android® platforms, in the Portuguese language, and free of charge. 132 participants, divided into three groups, used the tool. A validated questionnaire - System SUS Scale (SUS) - and a questionnaire created by the authors (properly validated) were used to assess the practicality and viability of the application as a learning tool. The mode, the absolute frequency and the percentage of the studied variables were crossed by Fisher's test or Pearson's chi-square test. Results: of the 132 participants, 55.3% have iOS®. All participants said they had already used an application on their smartphones, whereas 6 (4.5%) mentioned never having used applications for academic purposes (p value