Texting Among Physicians Grows; Prefer Non-Hospital Issued Phones

by Holly Shoemaker

Previous research indicates that physicians have become more reliant on tablets and smartphones, and a recent survey shows that pediatricians want to ditch the pager too.

Researchers from the University of Kansas School of Medicine surveyed 106 physicians at pediatric hospitals and found the following regarding communication methods:

While verbal face-to-face and telephone communications remained the most used form of communication at 92 percent, the reliance on non-verbal methods continues to grow, and respondents do not necessarily favor verbal communication.

• More than half of the respondents, 57 percent, said they send or receive work-related text messages.
• Twenty-seven percent of respondents favored texting for communication.
• Twenty-three percent of respondents favored hospital-issued pagers.
• Twenty-one percent favored face-to-face communication.
• Nine of out of 10 respondents reported using a smartphone for communication purposes.

Respondents Prefer Non-Hospital Issued Phones

The study showed that doctors preferred using their own cell phone for work-related communications. Forty-one percent of respondents said they received text messages on their own devices, while 18 percent used hospital-issued phones.

Concluding Thoughts

The larger reliance on personal smartphones seems to come from the lack of clear-cut policies related to texting. The physicians reported that their hospitals did not have a policy in place for texting to ensure they complied with Health Insurance Portability and Protection Act (HIPAA) measures that require properly encrypted methods to protect patient information. Furthermore, patient preference regarding the type of device used may also account for the trend.

Texting and the growing reliance on other technologies may cause medical professionals to overlook the importance of face-to-face communication. As doctors, nurses and other medical professionals rely more on tablets, smartphones and electronic communication methods, they will need to take the time to explain the importance of other methods to their patients.