Interns and their smartphones: use for clinical practice

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Digital Health
• Healthcare Technology

Background:

• Smartphone adoption is rapidly increasing among healthcare professionals.
• The integration of mobile devices into clinical practice presents both opportunities and challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the extent and nature of smartphone utilization by interns in their clinical work.
• To identify common applications and websites used by interns for professional purposes.

Main Methods:

• A survey was administered to 230 interns across two national training networks in Ireland.
• The survey collected data on smartphone ownership and usage patterns in clinical settings.

Main Results:

• 94.4% of surveyed interns owned a smartphone, with 83.3% using it daily for calls and 87.2% for texts.
• Common uses included emails (41.2%), work-related pictures (52.9%), the British National Formulary app (30.4% daily), and Wikipedia (38.2% weekly).

Conclusions:

• Smartphones are integral to interns' daily clinical tasks, necessitating clear guidelines for secure patient data handling.
• Recommendations are required for appropriate smartphone use, restrictions in clinical areas, and evaluating the credibility of medical apps and websites.