Doctors Using Smartphones but Relying More on Email for Apps, Social Media

With the majority of physicians now using smartphones to interact with patients, other doctors, pharmacists and their offices, 94 percent of them want to learn information about apps and social media via email, according to a recent survey presented at ePharma Summit in New York this month, according to a story at pharmalive.com.

MMS conducted the survey, which also found that, “despite innovations in ePharma, physicians still look to the email in-box as their favorite place to learn about new ePharma opportunities.” Although many other ways of communicating now exist – text, chat, videoconferencing, voicemail – email remains the channel ePharma attendees said they most trust and use, according to the story.

In addition, the survey found that 71 percent of physicians read email on PCs/laptops. Surprisingly, only 29 percent read email on mobile devices. The study found another astonishing fact – fewer physicians “are using devices such as smartphones as their primary email reader.”

An eWeek story by Brian T. Horowitz quoted a study that found that 94 percent of physicians use smartphones but an overwhelming majority (almost 80 percent)  “reported they have difficulty with timely smartphone communication with colleagues,” because it’s not integrated with other devices.

Interestingly, the MMS survey showed that most physicians read their email after noon, with 37 percent of respondents most often reading it after 6 p.m.  A slightly smaller percentage, 33 percent, read such messages before 9 a.m.

Half of physicians prefer HTML emails, while the other half likes plain text better, according to the story, and “36 percent of physicians use Facebook professionally,” while “only five percent use Twitter,” the MMS study found.

Not surprisingly, most physicians have recently downloaded medical apps to their smartphones, while  iPhones or iPads are the most popular app platform.

The story quoted 30 percent of doctors as owing an iPad and an additional 28 percent planning to buy one within six months.

The study also determined that “consumers are more likely to use search engines than web browsing or apps to find prescription drug information on their mobile phones.”