Abstract:

A project was undertaken in Australia in order to discover the most beneficial methods for using mobile learning in postgraduate nursing education. Classic grounded theory methods were used to develop a theory: Economising learning: how nurses learn with limited resources. It was found that mobile technologies assisted nurses with continuing learning by reducing the demand for personal resources such as time and money, enabling the nurse to undertake more learning.

Interestingly, nurses did not view mobile learning as a distinct entity; rather they used mobile devices, namely smart phones and tablets, to interact with information they could otherwise have accessed on a computer. In comparison to using tethered devices, mobile devices allowed nurses to save time and money while still accessing learning. The convenience of mobile devices should, therefore, be leveraged for postgraduate learning. That is not to say that the specific affordances of mobile technologies do not have benefit, but the convenience of mobile technologies is the main benefit to the postgraduate nurse.

Nurses continued to learn informally regardless of whether they also accessed formal learning or not. Nurses accessed information about specific patient needs throughout their work day. Most commonly, nurses accessed information about medications via their mobile device. Accessing this information in this way saved the nurse time from needing to access either paper-based information or access a computer away from the bedside, or more concerning, not accessing information due to time restraints. Mobile devices allowed nurses to access information quickly about procedures or particular conditions that arose throughout the day. The nurses accessed the information mostly to gain reassurance that their existing knowledge was correct rather than to rectify a knowledge deficit. This knowledge checking enabled the nurse to ensure best practice.

Email is often used to send information to nurses. Nurses reported that they accessed this information via their mobile device, deciding whether to keep or discard it. The value was determined through their personal clinical experience and the respect they held for the person sending the information. The information that was deemed valuable was then sorted according to when they could access it and how they wanted to interact with it.

When nurses did access formal learning, mobile devices allowed the nurse to minimise the impact of learning on their personal lives. Nurses reported downloading their learning before travelling and then engaging with that learning while en route to work. Time that was usually wasted while waiting at children's activities or appointments was used to access their course materials. Nurses also used podcasts while doing household chores or exercising to interact with learning.

The findings have been used to inform strategies to use mobile devices to increase nurses’ ability to access and engage with postgraduate learning.