Physicians do not think hospital IT organizations of affiliated hospitals are making the proper investments into providing the right infrastructure for mobile health (mHealth) applications, according to the findings of a new survey.
The survey, from the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Spyglass Consulting Group, reveals that 70 percent of physicians say hospital It organizations are failing to provide adequate investments that address physician mHealth requirements, specifically around communications. Most physicians, however, are on board with using smartphones and other mobile devices for clinical communications.
"Physician smartphone adoption is nearly universal with 96 percent of physicians interviewed using Smartphones as their primary device to support clinical communications," Gregg Malkary, managing director of Spyglass Consulting Group, said in a statement. "Smartphones are preferred because they are easier to use and provide more enhanced functionality than outdated communication options provided by hospital IT including pagers, overhead paging systems, landline phones and fax machines."
One area physicians will not look for help in clinical communications in is with the electronic health record (EHR). The survey found that 83 percent of physicians are frustrated with using the EHR to support clinical communications due to poor EHR interoperability, limited EHR messaging capabilities, and poor usability that makes it difficult to find relevant clinical data.
