Mobile device use among emergency department healthcare professionals: prevalence, utilization and attitudes

Eveline Hitti,Dima Hadid,Jad Melki,Mohamad Alameddine,Rima Kaddoura

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81278-5

Abstract

Mobile devices are increasingly permeating healthcare and are being regularly used by healthcare providers. We examined the prevalence and frequency of mobile device use, and perceptions around clinical and personal usage, among healthcare providers (attending physicians, residents, and nurses) in the Emergency Department (ED) of a large academic medical center in Lebanon. Half of the target population (N = 236) completed the cross-sectional electronic questionnaire. Mobile device usage for personal matters was uniform across all providers, with the highest usage reported by medical students (81.3%) and lowest by attendings (75.0%). Medical formulary/drug referencing applications were the most common application used by providers followed by disease diagnosis/management applications, 84.4% and 69.5% respectively. Most respondents agreed that mobile devices enabled better-coordinated care among providers and were beneficial to patient care. Most respondents also agreed that mobile device use assisted in quickly resolving personal issues and reduced their feeling of stress, yet the majority did not feel that personal usage improved performance at work. Study findings revealed that although healthcare providers value mobile devices’ positive impact on coordination of care, the reverse spillover effect of personal issues into the workplace enabled by mobile devices might have some negative impact on performance of staff at work.

Highlights

Mobile devices are increasingly permeating healthcare and are being regularly used by healthcare providers
This study aims to examine the prevalence of mobile device use among attending physicians, residents, and nurses in the Emergency Department (ED) of a large academic medical center in Lebanon
Our study further reveals that mobile device use by healthcare providers (HCPs) in clinical settings was not limited to clinical care but rather extended to extensive personal use

Summary

Introduction

Mobile devices are increasingly permeating healthcare and are being regularly used by healthcare providers. Mobile devices increasingly permeate the healthcare workplace and their regular use by healthcare providers (HCPs) is on the rise[1,2,3]. The impact of this invasive technology that has intruded into almost every aspect of life and work has attracted significant attention from scholars in various disciplines, generating a growing body of literature on perceived risks and b enefits[4,5,6,7]. Very few studies have examined how different HCPs use mobile devices in the varying clinical care settings, both for clinical-related and for personal purposes. Katz-Sidlow et al (2012) looked at mobile device use during inpatient rounds and found higher self-reported usage rates among residents compared to faculty for all types of use including patient-related and non-patient care u se[17,18]

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