Everyone's on Board With Smartphone Use in Healthcare - or Maybe Not?

We recently did an extensive industry survey to learn more about what people are really thinking about smartphone use in hospitals. The results were pretty interesting. Respondents reiterated a few points we’ve been hearing for a while, such as the overall decline in pager use and a trend toward smartphones and other communications technology. But we were interested to learn why some organizations are intentionally delaying smartphone use as well.

Surprisingly, the major barrier to adoption used to be cellular coverage. This emerged in the survey as a relatively minor issue. This is most likely due to the ability of smartphones to use the local Wi-Fi network and hospitals working with cellular carriers. We’ve worked with customers on several scenarios to handle this. Some hospitals have set up coverage for all the major cellular carriers with redundancy throughout their facilities. Wi-Fi capabilities continue to be up and coming as well. This includes leveraging services such as BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS) so the Amcom application can automatically select either cellular coverage or MVS as needed for delivery.

One issue survey respondents mentioned a few times was trouble gaining agreement from key stakeholders about the need for pager replacement / smartphone messaging applications. Certainly getting buy-in from those who will support and promote this type of functionality at your facility is key. Several of our customers have done small focus group-type implementations with key stakeholders to gain acceptance. Likewise, real-world examples of benefits for both staff efficiency and patient safety can help here, as can reference calls with other hospitals successfully using smartphones.

Likewise, security was a question given the sensitive nature of healthcare communications. The Amcom solution excels in this area by sending encrypted messages, which are then decrypted by the application on the smartphone. Even the message inbox can be password-protected. This helps you with HIPAA and the HITECH Act and keeps staff and patient details protected.

And some people asked what happens to investments already made in current technology and the staff training that went with it? This isn’t necessarily a sunk cost. Smartphone messaging can coexist quite peacefully with other types of devices. In fact, different staff members tend to need different things. Nurses often rely on Wi-Fi phones, housekeeping on pagers, and clinicians on smartphones. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. As long as messages reach the right people on the right device at the right time, patient safety standards can be protected and staff can be satisfied.

Let us know what you think. What are your hospital’s key concerns as far as moving ahead – or not – with smartphones in your organization?