Spaced Education and the Importance of Raising Awareness of the Personal Data Protection Act: A Medical Student Population-Based Study

BACKGROUND: The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) of Singapore was first passed in 2012, with subsequent enforcement regulations effective in 2014. Although medical education via digital platforms is not often used in medical schools in Singapore as of yet, many current means of communication at all levels in the medical community from medical schools to clinics to hospitals are unsecure and noncompliant with the PDPA. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study will assess the effectiveness of MyDoc, a secure, mobile telehealth application and messaging platform, as an educational tool, secure communications tool, and a tool to raise awareness of the PDPA. METHODS: By replacing current methods of communication with MyDoc and using weekly clinical case discussions in the form of unidentifiable clinical photos and questions and answers, we raised awareness the PDPA among medical students and gained feedback and determined user satisfaction with this innovative system via questionnaires handed to 240 medical students who experienced using MyDoc over a 6-week period. RESULTS: All 240 questionnaires were answered with very positive and promising results, including all 100 students who were not familiar with the PDPA prior to the study attributing their awareness of it to MyDoc. CONCLUSIONS: Potential uses of MyDoc in a medical school setting include PDPA-compliant student-to-student and student-to-doctor communication and clinical group case discussions with the sharing of patient-sensitive data, including clinical images and/or videos of hospital patients that students may benefit from viewing from an educational perspective. With our pilot study having excellent results in terms of acceptance and satisfaction from medical students and raising awareness of the PDPA, the integration of a secure, mobile digital health application and messaging platform is something all medical schools should consider, because our students of today are our doctors of tomorrow.