Smartphones Increase Interruptions, Unprofessional Behavior, Docs Say

Wondering how much your clinicians use their smartphones? Nurses use mobile email about three times as much as physicians, sending 22 messages in an average 24-hour period. Physicians receive about 22 messages per day, but send just under seven, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

The study, which evaluated smartphone use in the inpatient setting, found it generally improved communications between physicians and nurses, and improved mobility for residents. Researchers at Canada's University Health Network in Toronto studied a total of eight medical teams using assigned BlackBerry devices at two urban teaching hospitals, and tracked a total of more than 12,000 emails and 13,000 phone calls from residents alone.

Nurses, in particular, seemed to find smartphones improved their ability to get responses from physicians...