King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Denmark Hill SE5 9RS, London, UK.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2012 Oct 30;12:121. doi: 10.1186/1472-6947-12-121.
Smartphone usage has spread to many settings including that of healthcare with numerous potential and realised benefits. The ability to download custom-built software applications (apps) has created a new wealth of clinical resources available to healthcare staff, providing evidence-based decisional tools to reduce medical errors.Previous literature has examined how smartphones can be utilised by both medical student and doctor populations, to enhance educational and workplace activities, with the potential to improve overall patient care. However, this literature has not examined smartphone acceptance and patterns of medical app usage within the student and junior doctor populations.
An online survey of medical student and foundation level junior doctor cohorts was undertaken within one United Kingdom healthcare region. Participants were asked whether they owned a Smartphone and if they used apps on their Smartphones to support their education and practice activities. Frequency of use and type of app used was also investigated. Open response questions explored participants' views on apps that were desired or recommended and the characteristics of apps that were useful.
257 medical students and 131 junior doctors responded, equating to a response rate of 15.0% and 21.8% respectively. 79.0% (n=203/257) of medical students and 74.8% (n=98/131) of junior doctors owned a smartphone, with 56.6% (n=115/203) of students and 68.4% (n=67/98) of doctors owning an iPhone.The majority of students and doctors owned 1-5 medical related applications, with very few owning more than 10, and iPhone owners significantly more likely to own apps (Chi sq, p<0.001). Both populations showed similar trends of app usage of several times a day. Over 24 hours apps were used for between 1-30 minutes for students and 1-20 minutes for doctors, students used disease diagnosis/management and drug reference apps, with doctors favouring clinical score/calculator apps.
This study found a high level of smartphone ownership and usage among medical students and junior doctors. Both groups endorse the development of more apps to support their education and clinical practice.
智能手机的使用已经扩展到许多领域，包括医疗领域，带来了许多潜在的和已实现的好处。下载定制软件应用程序（apps）的能力为医疗保健人员提供了新的丰富的临床资源，提供基于证据的决策工具来减少医疗错误。先前的文献已经研究了智能手机如何被医学生和医生群体利用，以增强教育和工作场所的活动，从而有可能提高整体患者护理水平。然而，这一文献尚未研究医学生和初级医生群体中智能手机的接受程度和医疗应用程序使用模式。
在英国一个医疗保健地区，对医学生和初级医生的队列进行了在线调查。参与者被问及他们是否拥有智能手机，以及他们是否在智能手机上使用应用程序来支持他们的教育和实践活动。还调查了使用频率和使用的应用程序类型。开放式回答问题探讨了参与者对所需或推荐的应用程序的看法，以及对有用的应用程序的特点。
257 名医学生和 131 名初级医生做出了回应，回应率分别为 15.0%和 21.8%。79.0%（n=203/257）的医学生和 74.8%（n=98/131）的初级医生拥有智能手机，其中 56.6%（n=115/203）的学生和 68.4%（n=67/98）的医生拥有 iPhone。大多数学生和医生拥有 1-5 种医学相关应用程序，很少有人拥有超过 10 种，而 iPhone 拥有者拥有应用程序的可能性显著更高（卡方检验，p<0.001）。这两个群体的应用程序使用频率都相似，每天使用几次。在 24 小时内，学生使用应用程序的时间在 1-30 分钟之间，医生使用应用程序的时间在 1-20 分钟之间，学生使用疾病诊断/管理和药物参考应用程序，而医生则喜欢临床评分/计算器应用程序。
本研究发现医学生和初级医生拥有高水平的智能手机拥有率和使用率。这两个群体都支持开发更多的应用程序来支持他们的教育和临床实践。
