TY  - JOUR
AU  - Miyagami, Taiju
AU  - Nishizaki, Yuji
AU  - Shimizu, Taro
AU  - Yamamoto, Yu
AU  - Shikino, Kiyoshi
AU  - Kataoka, Koshi
AU  - Nojima, Masanori
AU  - Deshpande, Gautam A
AU  - Naito, Toshio
AU  - Tokuda, Yasuharu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/5/9
TI  - Evaluating the Use of a Note-Taking App by Japanese Resident Physicians: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e55087
VL  - 9
KW  - note-taking
KW  - applications
KW  - digital notes
KW  - resident physicians
KW  - medical education
AB  - 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. 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e55087
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/55087
DO  - 10.2196/55087
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/55087
ER  -