Discussion
A review of the literature regarding the use of mobile technology in
nursing education revealed that mobile technology has been widely
implemented in the clinical setting, and to a lesser extent in the classroom
and laboratory settings. But how successful has this application
been in light of the many concerns noted? The problems found regarding
the use of mobile technology must to be addressed.
Many of the studies were able to providemobile devices to the nursing
students through grant funding but this is not always the case. In
many situations, nursing students are required to purchase their own
mobile devices and/or the necessary informational applications. Perhaps
nursing education faculty and institutional information technology
services can explore options that will produce needed financial support
(Zurmehly, 2010). They should also encourage distributors of applications
that can be used on the students' mobile devices to permit purchasing
of the applications in bulk to reduce cost as well. Nurse
educators may wish to examine what are the total required purchases
and/or fees incurred by their students, in addition to tuition, to determine
if any of the mandatory resources are being duplicated and thus
can be removed (Zurmehly, 2010). For example, must the nursing students
purchase a medical dictionary when one is provided in a needed
application?