Exploring the Features of Mobile Application of Anatomy in Basic Medical Sciences: a qualitative study

Abstract Background The importance of mobile phones has become one of the new research topics in health professions education due to the ease of access and flexibility. Although novel approaches to health professions education recommend the use of educational technologies such as mobile applications, a limited number of studies have been conducted with regard to teaching anatomy through mobile applications. Considering the increasing needs of medical students for mobile technology to meet their educational needs, wants and desires, we decided to explore the features of an anatomy mobile application. Methods This qualitative study was conducted in two stages of holding focus groups and an expert panel session. Students of basic Medical sciences, and faculty members of anatomy at Iran University of Medical Sciences formed the research participants. Semi-structured interviews and note-taking were used to collect the data. Brown and Clark methods were used for thematic analysis and feature extraction. Finally, four criteria presented by Lincoln and Guba for qualitative studies were used to ensure the credibility, confirmability, trustworthiness and transferability of the data. Results Based on the data analysis, 37 codes that could be used to design anatomy mobile content for medical students were extracted. These features were categorized into the main themes of “visual richness”, “scientific comprehensiveness”, “audio richness”, “affordability”, “user-friendliness”, “self-assessment”, “interactive content” and “user support”. Conclusion This study explored the features of an anatomy application that can be used by educational app developers. Anatomy departments of universities of medical sciences, policymakers, and planners in the field of medical education can also adopt the findings of the present study.