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. 2025 May 9:9:e55087.
doi: 10.2196/55087.

Evaluating the Use of a Note-Taking App by Japanese Resident Physicians: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

Taiju Miyagami  1 , Yuji Nishizaki  1   2 , Taro Shimizu  3 , Yu Yamamoto  4 , Kiyoshi Shikino  5   6 , Koshi Kataoka  2 , Masanori Nojima  7 , Gautam A Deshpande  1 , Toshio Naito  1 , Yasuharu Tokuda  8   9
Affiliations

Evaluating the Use of a Note-Taking App by Japanese Resident Physicians: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

Taiju Miyagami et al. JMIR Form Res. .

Abstract

Background: Note-taking is a method that has long been used to optimize studying. Recent innovations have seen the introduction of digital note-taking using software apps. Although the current state of digital note-taking has been verified mainly among students, the use and efficacy of digital note-taking by physicians in actual clinical practice remain unknown. Therefore, we sought to understand the characteristics of note-taking residents using a note-taking app and determine whether there is a difference in basic medical knowledge compared to that of nondigital note-taking residents.

Objective: This study investigated the use of a digital note-taking app by Japanese resident physicians.

Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in resident physicians during the General Medicine In-Training Examination (GM-ITE), a clinical competency examination for resident physicians. The GM-ITE is a multiple-choice test with a maximum score of 80 points. Using a structured questionnaire, we collected data on the sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, postgraduate year [PGY], or others), clinical training, GM-ITE scores, and the use of an app for note-taking to record case experience. The GM-ITE evaluated the scores by dividing them into 4 groups (groups 1-4), in order from the lowest to the highest. We conducted a multivariate analysis of sociodemographic, clinical training, and GM-ITE score variables to determine the independent predictors of the use of a digital note-taking app.

Results: This study included 3833 participants; 1242 (32.4%) were female, 1988 (51.8%) were PGY 1 residents, 2628 (68.6%) were training in a rural area, 3236 (84.4%) were in community-based hospitals, and 1750 (45.3%) were app users. The app users were more likely to be in their PGY 2, to work in a community-based hospital, to have general internal medicine rotation experience, to use online medical resources more frequently, and to have more time for self-study. The results showed that the app users group had a higher GM-ITE score than the nonapp users group (adjusted odds ratio 0.74, 95% CI 0.25 to 1.22; P=.003).

Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate note-taking by physicians in Japan using apps. The app users group had a higher GM-ITE score than the nonapp users, suggesting that they may have higher clinical skills. In the future, we would like to conduct more in-depth research on the facts of note-taking using apps, based on our results.

Keywords: applications; digital notes; medical education; note-taking; resident physicians.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: YN received an honorarium from the Japan Association for Medical Education Program (JAMEP) as the General Medicine In-Training Examination (GM-ITE) project manager. YT is the director of the JAMEP. KS received an honorarium from the JAMEP as a reviewer of the GM-ITE. KS, TS, and YY received honoraria from the JAMEP as examination preparers of the GM-ITE. All other authors do not have any competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Participant characteristics. GM-ITE: General Medicine In-Training Examination.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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