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. 2015 Apr 2;4(2):107-12.
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2015.03.004. eCollection 2015 Jun.

A UK perspective on smartphone use amongst doctors within the surgical profession

Rikesh K Patel  1 , Adele E Sayers  1 , Nina L Patrick  2 , Kaylie Hughes  3 , Jonathan Armitage  1 , Iain Andrew Hunter  1
Affiliations

A UK perspective on smartphone use amongst doctors within the surgical profession

Rikesh K Patel et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

Introduction: Hospitals are increasingly looking for mobile solutions to meet their information technology needs. Medical professionals are using personal mobile devices to support their work, because of limitations in both time and space. Our aims were to assess smartphone use amongst UK surgical doctors, the prevalence of medical app use and online activity.

Methods: A thirteen-item questionnaire was derived to identify the proportion of surgical doctors of all grades using smartphones within the workplace. The following factors were evaluated: use of medical apps; use of online medical resources and if users were willing to use their own smartphone for clinical use.

Results: A total of 341 participants were surveyed with a complete response rate: 93.5% of which owned a smartphone, with 54.2% of those owning medical apps and 86.2% using their device to access online medical resources. Junior doctors were more likely to use medical apps over their senior colleagues (p = 0.001) as well as access the Internet on their smartphone for medical information (p < 0.001). Overall, 79.3% stated that they would be willing to use their smartphone for clinical use, which was found not to be dependent on seniority (p = 0.922).

Conclusion: Online resources contribute significantly to clinical activities with the majority of smartphone users willing to use their own device. The information gathered from this study can aid developers to create software dedicated to the smartphone operating systems in greatest use and to potentially increase the use of a bring your own device (BYOD) scheme.

Keywords: App; Internet; Medical resources; Smartphone; Surgeon.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Questionnaire: A survey to assess smartphone use amongst surgical doctors.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bar chart illustrating the type of smartphone owned by the participants.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Bar chart illustrating the frequency of use amongst those owning medical apps.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Bar chart illustrating the frequency of Internet use amongst those using their smartphones to access medical information.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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