LabSafety, the Pharmaceutical Laboratory Android Application, for Improving the Knowledge of Pharmacy Students

Abstract

Currently, traditional paper methods may not effectively be used in education due to lack of access, outdated content, and poor graphics. Education through mobile‐based applications is one of the alternative solutions. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate LabSafety educational application and its effect on promoting the knowledge of pharmacy students. In this interventional study, the LabSafety application was first developed and evaluated for educating students about the safety measures in laboratories. Then, all pharmacy students from Kerman University of Medical Sciences (n = 316) were selected and randomly enrolled into one of three groups using simple random sampling: control (n = 106), traditional (n = 105), and application (n = 105) groups. To assess students' knowledge before and after the intervention, two valid and reliable (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.94 and 0.93, respectively) questionnaires were used. The results of the study showed no significant differences among the mean scores of the participants' knowledge before intervention (p = 0.82). After the intervention, the mean scores of the application group were 5.52 higher than the scores of the traditional group and 7.3 higher than the scores of the control group (p < 0.0001). Age had no significant effect on the posttest scores of the participants (p = 0.52). As a result, the use of this educational application can effectively increase the knowledge of all age groups of pharmacy students regarding safety measures in pharmaceutical laboratories. The mobile‐based applications with online and offline access, interactive features, and user‐friendly interfaces are more engaging and they can be used complementary to traditional training methods. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 48(1):44–53, 2020.

Mobile applications in medical education: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The included studies consist of 27 RCTs, 1 cluster RCT, 8 quasi-experimental studies, 15 interventional cohort studies, and 1 cross-sectional study, which was published between 2011 and 2020. Major portion of the studies (36/52) were performed in developed countries namely USA (n = 10) [18,21,23,24,32,34,38,42,50,60], UK (n = 7) [37,43,44,[47][48][49]52], South Korea (n = 5) [53,[58][59][60][61], Brazil (n = 4) [15,25,40,45], Germany (n = 3) [17,19,63], Spain (n = 3) [29,55,56], Turkey (n = 2) [22,54], Chile (n = 2) [9, 51], while the remaining 10 studies were from France [16], Australia [20], China [27], Iran (n = 4) [14,28,30,41], Rwanda [57], India [33], Taiwan [35], Canada [36], Pakistan [8], Thailand…”

Highlights: Safety Culture Conversations, Anaphylaxis Induced by Peptide Coupling Agents, Biological Safety Cabinet Explosion in a Biochemistry Laboratory, and More

“…22 This publication later served as part of the inspiration behind LabSafety, an Android application to help improve safety knowledge among pharmacy students. 23 Marc Reid…”

“…Crucially, while such BSC units possess air extraction suitable for removing microbial particulates, the units are not designed to remove flammable fumes and are thus not compatible with use of Bunsen burners. Following an investigation, from which the student was hospitalized to receive stitches, the root cause of the accident came from the fact that “department leadership failed to exercise effective oversight or to hold its staff and students accountable for safety and security management.” Furthermore, “Lessons learnt from previous incidents ... were not collected or communicated to department staff.” This publication later served as part of the inspiration behind LabSafety, an Android application to help improve safety knowledge among pharmacy students …”

Application of Social Media in Chemical Safety Training: A Case Study of Training GHS Standards to Students and Laboratory Staff at a University

“…Elearning is one of the best methods of education. 31 In this approach, people enjoy more flexibility in the time and place of learning, and one's competence is increased through easy access to large amounts of information. 35 Nowadays, mobile phones and cyberspace have become an integral part of people's daily lives.…”