Background/Purpose: iBooks, a free electronic book application by Apple, is well-suited for publishing interactive medical texts. To date, no iBook on Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) exists, and the utility of an Apple iBook for medical students as a teaching method in APS has never been assessed. Our objective was to assess medical students’ improvement of knowledge and satisfaction with an interactive APS iBook, in comparison with conventional teaching methods.

Methods: The APS iBook was developed both in French and English by a professional iBook developer (LP) with the guidance of a medical team. Second year medical students, who were naïve of lectures regarding APS, were enrolled from two institutions (Nancy University, France; Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY). For the “teaching intervention”, following IRB approvals, participants were randomly distributed to three groups: a) APS iBook with interactive capability (Group A); b) printed copy of the material contained in the interactive APS iBook (Group B); and c) classroom presentation of the material contained in the APS iBook (Group C) by a physician (SZ or DE). A standardized medical questionnaire about APS (total score: 10 points) was filled by the participants before and after teaching interventions. Furthermore, participants were asked to fill out a standardized satisfaction survey (max: 10). Recall capability of students was tested four months after the intervention (score: 10 pts).

Results: 233 second-year medical students were enrolled (iBook group: 73; print group: 79, and lecture group: 81). Mean improvement of knowledge was significantly higher in the lecture group in comparison to the iBook group. Satisfaction was significantly higher in both the lecture and the iBook groups, compared to the print group on several dimensions including overall quantitative satisfaction, subjective enhanced knowledge, interactivity, quality of content, comprehensibility, and pleasure of learning. Recall capability of students (n=109) was not significantly different among groups (Table).

Conclusion: Based on our international two-center randomized control study of medical students, a classroom APS lecture is the most effective method in improving medical students’ knowledge, when compared to self-learning methods, i.e., APS iBook or APS printed material. Among these two self-learning methods, medical students were more satisfied with the APS iBook, although both resulted in the same degree of improvement of knowledge. Given the complexity of the spectrum and the management of aPL-related clinical manifestations, we hope that our APS iBook will help medical students in their curriculum and increase the awareness of APS among the community.

APS iBook: https://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/antiphospholipid-syndrome/id1185542915?mt=11

*Increased # of correct answers pre- and post-intervention medical questionnaires

**# of correct answers