Six Things Hospitals Must Know Before Supporting Smartphone Adoption

Smartphone technology use is proliferating throughout the marketplace and no one industry or virtual market is immune. Within the healthcare space, this is an interesting phenomenon as tight controls over technology have long been in place. In a recent white paper, Six Things Hospitals Need to Know About Supporting the Adoption of Smartphones, healthcare facilities with 300+ beds can learn how best to embrace this change and make it work for them. In a world once dominated by the pager due to its ability to deliver reliable communications at a low cost, significant uptake of the smartphone has been seen as the latest emerging trend. Physicians, nurses and administrators are all embracing their iPhones, BlackBerrys, Androids and other devices. With this adoption comes the request of support for smartphones and IT teams are expressing legitimate concerns, such as the effective management of protocols and devices; the reliability of message delivery; and the protection of the network. In this list of six things to know, these challenges and others are explored.

• The exploding trend for smartphone adoption within hospitals is not going away – smartphone users are growing within the hospital space and users are remaining highly loyal. IT teams must evaluate options for incorporating such devices into their communications strategy.
• Mission-critical communications should not rely on SMS via a smartphone service provider’s website – patient care can suffer if this is your preferred method of driving time-sensitive communications. It can be a waste of time if you need to visit the website every time you need to deploy a critical message. This method can also be prone to error as users often switch from one provider to another. Plus, such messages offer no centralized audit trail of communications to track delivery, receipt or response.
• You must have an integrated messaging system – smartphones used within the hospital must be able to integrate with contact center solutions and other existing or planned communications infrastructure is critical. Any system that avoids this criteria lengthens the communication process and makes it more prone to errors. 
• In a world of heterogeneous smartphones, it is impossible to support just one brand – every user is likely to think their own smartphone is the best choice. And, new smartphones are becoming available all the time, which changes the flow of adoption among specific brands. The technology put in place to support smartphones must be able to support the diverse needs and devices within the hospital user community, without putting added strain on IT staff.
• An improved audit trail should be offered with smartphone applications – This audit trail should include a log of messages sent, received and read and is a necessity to ensure compliance with Joint Commission requirements. These logs serve as a safety net to prove what happened and when, especially who was contacted, and helps to ensure accountability.
• Redundancy and escalation are critical – it is an absolute must that hospitals and their employees can reach their intended recipients instantly. IT must establish multiple paths to get messages through to recipients in the event that high communications traffic is straining bandwidth or that coverage dead spots occur.

Smartphones today are doing nothing short of changing the way we communicate. Hospitals and healthcare professionals throughout the world are adopting this technology and it is up to the IT teams to ensure this adoption meets with its policies and standards. By a aligning your strategy with the six points listed in this piece, you are well on your way to smartphone success.