According to the Ohio State University Medical Center, the typical third-year medical student will have attended more than 2,000 hours of classroom lectures upon graduation and dedicated more than two-thirds of his or her waking hours to medical school.

Such time-management demands led student Justin Harper to develop a tool that condenses the typical 50-minute lecture into a 30-minute podcast, a process that speeds up lectures, compresses them and edits out pauses, extraneous noise and related hubbub.

"I am able to listen to several lectures in the same amount of time it would take to sit through one," said Harper. "I can read [and] do research, using my own timetable," he added.

In an effort to improve the quality of education and patient care, Ohio State's medical students have been using the Apple iPod Touch since 2007 to assist with their academic and clinical activities. Each student receives a device equipped with medical software programs developed by faculty at Ohio State's College of Medicine.

Typically, the Apple media players are used for music, movies and games. However, according to Dr. Catherine Lucey, vice dean for education at Ohio State's College of Medicine, the devices have become essential in the learning process for new doctors as well.

iPod Touch equipped, medical students are answering patient questions with instant access to the most recent journal articles and medical literature, bedside. Additionally, patients can view videos of surgical procedures and medical treatments and know what to expect, lessening the fear of the unknown.

Moreover, the availability of medical applications such as histology, pharmacology and neuroanatomy has increased tremendously. "Going forward, we are collaborating with our colleagues at Ohio State's College of Engineering and other companies to develop applications that will supplement the techniques we teach," said Lucey.