Spyglass: Physician smartphone usage on the rise, along with concerns
Ninety-four percent of physicians are using smartphones to communicate, manage personal and business workflows and access medical information, according to a report from Spyglass Consulting Group. This represents a significant increase from Spyglass’ findings in a similar study published in November 2006 in which 59 percent of physicians reported using smartphones.
Based on more than 100 interviews with physicians working in U.S. acute-care and ambulatory environments, the study from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Spyglass showed trends on how physicians across the U.S. are adopting mobile communications at point-of-care to improve communications, collaboration, productivity, patient care and safety.
“Physician smartphone adoption is occurring more rapidly than with members of the general public,” the report stated. “Physicians are showing a clear preference for using the Apple iPhone (44 percent) over the RIM Blackberry (25 percent).”
Despite the increasing adoption, use of smartphones is not without complications. Seventy-eight percent of physicians interviewed experienced difficulties accessing and communicating with colleagues in a timely manner. According to the report, many respondents lack financial incentives to be more accessible because the current fee-for-service reimbursement system encourages physicians to focus on the quantity versus the quality of healthcare delivered. Nonessential phone or email communications with colleagues and patients are seen as non-reimbursable distractions.
In addition, the physicians reported they are overwhelmed by the daily volume of communications received from colleagues, care team members and patients, stating they lack automated tools to manage voice mail, pager messages, SMS messages and email. Because physicians are forced to continually check separate data silos and manually filter and prioritize communications based on sender, subject and priority, critical communications easily fall through the cracks, Spyglass found.
The report also noted that 56 percent of physicians interviewed were concerned about lack of standardized processes for transitioning care between colleagues. Patient hand-off process used by hospital-based physicians and the patient referral process used by community-based physicians are informal and ad hoc which can introduce medical errors into the patient care process, according to the report.
Based on more than 100 interviews with physicians working in U.S. acute-care and ambulatory environments, the study from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Spyglass showed trends on how physicians across the U.S. are adopting mobile communications at point-of-care to improve communications, collaboration, productivity, patient care and safety.
“Physician smartphone adoption is occurring more rapidly than with members of the general public,” the report stated. “Physicians are showing a clear preference for using the Apple iPhone (44 percent) over the RIM Blackberry (25 percent).”
Despite the increasing adoption, use of smartphones is not without complications. Seventy-eight percent of physicians interviewed experienced difficulties accessing and communicating with colleagues in a timely manner. According to the report, many respondents lack financial incentives to be more accessible because the current fee-for-service reimbursement system encourages physicians to focus on the quantity versus the quality of healthcare delivered. Nonessential phone or email communications with colleagues and patients are seen as non-reimbursable distractions.
In addition, the physicians reported they are overwhelmed by the daily volume of communications received from colleagues, care team members and patients, stating they lack automated tools to manage voice mail, pager messages, SMS messages and email. Because physicians are forced to continually check separate data silos and manually filter and prioritize communications based on sender, subject and priority, critical communications easily fall through the cracks, Spyglass found.
The report also noted that 56 percent of physicians interviewed were concerned about lack of standardized processes for transitioning care between colleagues. Patient hand-off process used by hospital-based physicians and the patient referral process used by community-based physicians are informal and ad hoc which can introduce medical errors into the patient care process, according to the report.