Though it would seem that every doctor in the U.S. has a smartphone or tablet holstered, it’s just not so, according to a new survey.
The nation's physicians are indeed using laptops, smartphones and iPads in increasing numbers, but the majority still uses PC for entering reports and accessing electronic medical records, according to a story by Eric Wicklund.
Even patients are using smartphones now. Juniper Research, a Hampshire, England-based market research firm, recently predicted that by 2016, three million patients worldwide will use remote monitoring devices that require a smartphone to transmit information.
The second annual National Physicians Survey polled 1,190 practitioners representing more than 75 medical specialties, Wicklund reported.
The survey found that one out of every three doctors are using laptops, while roughly 20 percent use smartphones and 12 percent use iPads for clinical purposes. So much for anywhere, anytime medical help!
How do they talk to other doctors? Wicklund says the survey showed that 95 percent of providers use the phone, and 63 percent, the fax machine. But when it comes to talking to another physician, more than half still prefer doing it in person, and 34 percent communicate via e-mail – “even though it's not defined as a secure channel by HIPAA,” wrote Wicklund.
When talking to patients, the survey says 91 percent of physicians use the phone, 84 percent prefer face-to-face chats and 20 percent use e-mail.
Yet a survey in 2011 found that 80 percent of doctors were using smartphones and apps. The Jackson and Coker Industry Report said that emergency room physicians used them most (40 percent). A 2012 survey put the number of doctors using smartphones for clinical purposes at 20 percent.
But maybe those who aren’t using mobile devices know what they’re doing. Data breaches have gone up 32 percent, and 96 percent of health organizations said they had experienced at least one breach in 2011. While all breaches can’t be connected to mobile devices, some can, as the information on smartphones is not encrypted for security purposes.
Edited by
Braden Becker
