Spok, a healthcare communications organization, has released a pair of annual surveys on mobility strategies in healthcare. The surveys include responses from more than 300 U.S. healthcare professionals covering mobile strategy development, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, communications infrastructure and improving mobile communications.

The two surveys, meant to analyze the aspects of mobile planning and communications, were released separately. The first part, titled, "The Evolution of Mobile Strategies in Healthcare," includes reports on business and clinical goals in the mobile planning process. The second part, titled "The State of Mobile Communications in Healthcare: Devices, Infrastructure and Access," covers the types of devices used, the challenge hospitals face in mobile device usage and the major points of improvement within the next five years.

Top 10 findings from the first report include:

1. 40 percent of hospitals have had their mobility strategy in place for one to three years.
2. 65 percent of healthcare professionals reported having a documented mobility strategy in place—an increase from 34 percent in 2012.
3. The biggest reason offered from those surveyed to update a mobile strategy is the shifting needs of end users, at 44 percent, followed by new devices available on the market, at 35 percent.
4. More than half (53 percent) reported physician-to-physician communications and nurse-to-physician communications as the main goal in mobile strategy.
5. Clinical leadership involvement has increased the most when developing mobility strategies, followed by doctor’s involvement.
6. 82 percent reported IT departments will create mobility strategies, followed by 60 percent reporting clinical leadership.
7. Nurse involvement in developing mobile strategy has increased by 59 percent from 2014.
8. Nearly half (47 percent) reported their mobility strategy will mainly act as a communications initiative.
9. 25 percent reported mobile polices will be enforced by a security team monitoring the hospital or system, while another 25 percent also reported no method for enforcing polices.
10. 68 percent reported not having a formal process for reviewing the success of mobile enablement projects.

“This year we expanded our research to allow a deeper look at how hospitals are developing, maintaining, and executing on their mobile strategies,” said Hemant Goel, president of Spok. “Based on participant responses in this first installment of our findings, we see that mobile strategies are becoming more established in healthcare, and that most hospitals are making revisions as needed to keep these plans relevant and up-to-date. Ninety-three percent of hospitals with mobile strategies in place more than a year have updated their mobile plans.”

Top 10 findings from The State of Mobile Communications in Healthcare: Devices, Infrastructure, and Access:

1. In-house pagers remain the dominate device for communication at 48 percent, followed by smartphones (38 percent).
2. A large majority (87 percent) of respondents believe Wi-Fi is critical to business.
3. Wi-Fi coverage remains the top barrier in achieving mobile device usage within a hospital at 45 percent, followed by cellular coverage at 38 percent.
4. 59 percent of respondents in 2017 reported their hospital had a poor cellular network, down from 75 percent in 2016.
5. On a five-point scale, respondents rated smartphones as the most reliable communication tool for sharing data (3.66), followed by pagers (3.20).
6. Two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents have an overhead paging backup communication plan in place in case cellular network crashes.
7. 59 percent of respondents have some form of bring-your-own device (BYOD) in place, with 4 percent planning on placing a BYOD policy.
8. 52 percent reported using a healthcare collaboration solution, like secure text messaging.
9. 40 percent of respondents plan on evaluating means of implementing an enterprise mobility management solution in their hospital, while 30 percent have no plan of implementation.
10. 69 percent reported enterprise mobility management solutions are used for securing data on devices, and 48 percent reported for gathering an inventory of devices and applications.

“The first installment of our 2017 research, released last month, examined how hospitals are developing, maintaining, and executing on their mobile strategies,” said Goel. “This second piece in our two-part series looks at the details behind these strategies. For example, we asked about the types of mobile devices particular staff carry, what challenges hospitals are encountering with mobile device usage, and whether they support BYOD programs. Though there is still a lot of room for improvement, the responses this year demonstrate that hospitals are taking action and making progress addressing these important issues."