Mobile healthcare tools don’t replace traditional devices like workstations on wheels, but rather complement them by increasing flexibility and clinician satisfaction.
While many in healthcare believe shared mobile tools will be beneficial, the sector is still in the process of fully understanding just how transformative they may be. From a clinician’s perspective, mobile devices already improve the ability to deliver care more effectively, but the full extent of their influence is still being evaluated.
A webinar on shared mobile device workflows, presented by Imprivata and Pulse+IT today heard that younger clinicians often find it easier to complete detailed documentation on small screens, which suggests digital literacy plays a role in adoption. This led to a discussion on the merits of deploying mobile devices universally or adopting a mixed device strategy tailored to specific care settings.
The panelists were Imprivata’s Senior Product Manager Andy Wilcox; Associate Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, and Director of Clinical Operations Dan Johnston and Customer Success Manager Brad Gwyther joined by facilitator, the co-host of the PULSE podcast, Dr Louise Schaper.
Dan Johnston, who is also a registered nurse, reflected on how far mobile healthcare technology has evolved. “It’s really been a remarkable journey over the last four or five years in terms of understanding the objectives of hospitals with the use of mobile and making ‘the right patient information available to the right clinician at the right time at the point of care’.
He said mobile devices now provide clinicians with real-time access to patient information at the point of care. This enables more informed, timely decision-making and interactions with patients, such as referencing medical history or administering medication.
But he stressed that mobile tools do not replace traditional devices like workstations on wheels (WoWs), but rather complemented them by increasing flexibility, responsiveness, and clinician satisfaction.
Mr Johnston said mobile technology was transforming traditional healthcare workflows, such as the “hub-and-spoke” model centered around staff stations.
With handheld devices, clinicians no longer needed to return to a central desk to document or discuss something with colleagues.
“I don’t need to go backwards and forwards if I’ve got a handheld device. I can go from ward to ward without necessarily going to staff hubs – so I don’t think we’ve really wrapped our heads around how much it’s going to change or how much it’s already changing,” he said.
Andy Wilcox said mobile devices should not be seen as simple replacements for desktop systems. Instead, adopting mobile healthcare technology required a complete rethinking of care delivery models to fit the platform.
He cautioned against focusing solely on the physical device and ignoring the underlying tech stack, including Mobile Device Management (MDM), Identity and Access Management (IAM), and various applications.
“These components must work seamlessly to create a smooth user experience. If they don’t, clinicians are likely to find workarounds that could jeopardise both security and efficiency — a significant risk considering the highly sensitive patient data involved.
Mobile devices must safeguard personal health data just as securely as financial or social media information. Mr Wilcox said that balancing data protection with ease of use is one of the toughest challenges in healthcare IT — but also one that must be met to ensure adoption.
The panel discussed behavioural shifts following the adoption of mobile solutions. Once mobile workflows are embedded and prove effective, clinicians generally prefer to continue using them rather than revert to traditional, less efficient methods, they agreed.
