We’ve all come to rely on SMS, or texting, to stay in touch with the people in our daily lives. Some use it to keep track of their kids, others to update work projects. But did you know that doctors and hospitals use it, too, for everything from discussing patients’ records to actual codes – what’s used when someone’s heart has stopped.
Scared? You should be. A new white paper points out that texting is not for the medical world, because it’s not encrypted. That means just about anyone can get access to what you read and write.
The white paper lists the reasons medical facilities should reconsider using SMS. The first, and most important, is that they lack security. According to the white paper, they are sent over insecure Web sites, using the same protocol as e-mail. And there’s no way to lock messages with a PIN number, the paper points out. And there’s no way to automatically remove critical messages and leave the personal ones in the inbox.
This is important because medical regulations require that “sensitive” messages be deleted as soon as they’re no longer needed, according to the white paper.
The answer? Smartphones, the white paper says. That’s because their messaging systems are encrypted, which is required by the new healthcare regulations put in place for patient confidentiality with the HITECH and HIPAA acts, and they do require a PIN number to get access to messages.
Another reason SMS should not be used in hospitals is that it’s usually used outside the hospital, where clinicians have no access to phone numbers in a hospital’s directory because texting technology is not synched or integrated with hospital databases, according to the white paper.
Another big danger with SMS? The white paper says that you can’t trace calls with SMS. In other words, no message audit trail, vital when a patient crisis erupts at a hospital where doctors from many different disciplines need to be involved, yet can’t all talk to each other at the same time.
SMS also does not ensure that vital messages are delivered, and there’s no way to acknowledge that you’ve seen the text, or know that the person you’re messaging has seen yours, according to the white paper. In addition, because it only works over cellular networks, without the security guaranteed by Wi-Fi, we’re right back to the privacy and confidentiality issue.
Yet some see SMS as a positive force in, for example, changing behavior, by allowing people a way to be aware of issues concerning their health, and to get information to keep them healthy, noting that it’s “immediate and intimate” and can reach people just about anywhere.
So is SMS good or bad for medicine? It all depends. Until you can separate out the messages from your spouse about getting milk, from the urgent demands for a patient consultation, the SMS white paper suggests switching to other technologies.
Edited by
Amanda Ciccatelli
