THE CYBERDOC(TM) PROJECT - USING PORTABLE COMPUTING TO ENHANCE A COMMUNITY-BASED PRIMARY-CARE CLERKSHIP

In July 1995, MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine of the Allegheny Univer sity of the Health Sciences introduced its first-ever required clerksh ip in family medicine. It was decided that computer skills and applica tions would be an integral part of this rotation, and a special progra m, CyberDoc, was developed for the clerkship by some of the university 's informatics professionals and family medicine faculty. CyberDoc is a suite of laptop-computer applications, based almost. exclusively on ''off-the-shelf'' database and connectivity programs and designed expr essly for students at community-based training sites, CyberDoc allows faculty members to track students' progress at off-site clerkships, an d allows the students to access pharmaceutical and drug-interaction da tabases, the university's online academic information system (includin g MEDLINE), all basic Internet functions, e-mail, and an array of othe r applications. The authors briefly describe the background, goals, an d structure of the CyberDoc project, as well as the preliminary outcom es of CyberDoc's pilot year.