Mobile device use virtually ubiquitous among primary care physicians

The stats just keep on coming, but these are more remarkable than most. According to a survey of practicing primary care (FP and IM ) physicians conducted in April 2013 by Ipsos for Wolters Kluwer Health:

• Nearly 80%  use  smartphones in their “day-to-day practice.” 61% use mobile tablets.

• The top use is obtaining prescription drug information, such as side effects and interactions, and for dosage calculations--78% use smartphones for that purpose, 55% use tablets.

These statistics underscore yet again the importance of designing email and other medical marcomm for a three screen environment. The simplest way to do so is to design for mobile first.

Other findings of interest:

• Physicians use the larger-screened tablets more than smartphones for reading medical research--63% use tablets vs. 43% using smartphones.

• Phones however are the first choice for patient communications, used by 33% of respondents, only 17% of whom reported using tablets to communicate with patients. 

• Professional journals remain the most popular source for accessing the latest information for diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care of patients--84% of respondents report using journals  journals frequently or occasionally. But 80% reported using general Web searches on Google, Yahoo and others.

• Doctors do not think health information technology (HIT) is lowering the cost of care. In fact, almost 80%  they think it's raising costs. However most concede that HIT improves safety, quality, and evidence-based medicine.