Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific and COMP-Northwest is pleased to announce that they have been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2024-27 for the Digital Doctor Bag program. COMP and COMP-Northwest had previously been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2021-24.
The Digital Doctor Bag program provides each osteopathic medical student with an iPad that is integrated into their daily activities, from lecture note-taking to learning telemedicine to communicating with each other and with faculty and staff. COMP and COMP-Northwest students interact with their peers, professors, and staff support via iPad and the communications app COMP Connect, which was developed by the College.
The key feature of this program is supplying the students with a device with long battery life, and that is accessible to everyone, to provide them with the tools they need just in time, said COMP and COMP-Northwest Vice Dean Edward Barnes, MD, FACP.
“If you think back to the black doctor bag that doctors carried, they would put all the tools of their trade in that doctor bag,” Barnes said. “Now in this modern world where we think about what tools do we add to that black doctor bag, and it’s iPad and apps. We started to develop these apps and put them just in time year by year for the students to carry around with them as they learn. We wanted to put it in their hands when they’re seeing standardized patients, when they’re in the anatomy lab, when they’re in the clinic, and when they’re doing telemedicine visits.”
The program continues to evolve and grow based on student, faculty and staff feedback. Year after year, COMP and COMP-Northwest sends out surveys to assess how well the program is performing. The College does not shy away from showing that some early scores were “ones,” with the goal to raise those to “fives.”
“We want to make sure we’re integrating all of that improvement in your feedback,” Barnes said. “The goal is to make sure that we don’t ever just stop where we are with improving this Digital Doctor Bag program, and to have a company like Apple acknowledge and recognize us for that goes a long way.”
Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of leadership and educational excellence, with a clear vision for how technology-rich environments support learning goals. In Apple Distinguished Schools, forward-thinking leaders and their communities work to inspire, imagine, and impact teaching and learning, and they have documented results of academic accomplishments. Schools all over the world are using iPad and Mac to transform learning. As teachers incorporate technology into their lessons, they empower students to lead, learn, and thrive, to discover new opportunities, and to make their world a better place.
The College also took the opportunity to recognize the contributions of WesternU Provost and Chief Academic Officer Paula M. Crone, DO ’92, who thought of the “Digital Doctor Bag” program name and launched the program while serving as COMP and COMP-Northwest Dean.
“Your innovation doesn’t go unnoticed, and it’s really driving forward the progress of medical education,” Barnes said.
“For all the students that are in the room (in Lebanon) and in Pomona, never stop pushing those boundaries,” Crone said. “Never stop trying to improve education and health care because that’s how you’re going to become physicians that make your communities healthier in the future.”
Western University of Health Sciences, located in Pomona, Calif. and Lebanon, Ore., is an independent nonprofit health professions university, conferring degrees in biotechnology and pharmaceutical sciences, dental medicine, medical sciences, nursing, optometry, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, podiatric medicine and veterinary medicine. WesternU is home to WesternU Health, where the best in collaborative health care services is offered.
