Guest post by Jesal Shah
Our class readings have touched on technology/social media utilization across various demographics: the elderly, the low-income population, American adults, individuals with and without chronic diseases, etc. We also examined how the online infrastructure and community can be utilized in patient-disease narratives/data sharing (e.g. ePatient Dave) as well as creative physician expression (e.g. zDogg M.D.). However, our design project aims to create a physician-oriented campaign to increase HIV testing. This population emphasis poses a unique question: how can we best utilize technology for a group of physicians who are highly educated, scientifically engaged, restricted by time, ethnically mixed and varied in age, amongst other criteria. After all, eHealth, in addition to those involved in the technology process, is targeted to not only patients, but also physicians. Here are four out of several considerations when thinking about doctors and technology use:
1. Physicians rarely engage in e-mail conversation with patients.1
This conclusion serves as an indicator for general informal outlets of patient-physician communication. There are significant barriers, such as general negative attitudes and inertia, reimbursement issues as well as patient confidentiality, which challenge much more organic forms of interaction through technology.
2. Time strengthens resistance to change.1
Those within one decade of medical practice were more likely to use technology (tracked by online journal access and utilization of real-time clinical decision making services) in their profession than those in their third decade of work. This also reflects general trends of society and age. For our project, it may be interesting to examine age demographics of the Harris Health primary care physicians.
3. Patients have surpassed physicians in incorporating IT for health purposes.1, 2
Patients tend to be much more willing to explore healthcare topics online than even physicians. Is this because of pedagogical methods in medical schools, information abundance online, poorly designed real-time clinical decision making services or something else?
4. Digital divide amongst Physicians: the adopters and the restrainers.
While there is considerable survey data that point to certain specific technologies/applications being adopted more widely by physicians, a study by Deloitte highlights the existing digital divide amongst physicians. They found that 78% of the 57% of physicians who don’t use smart phones for clinical purposes do not intend to change in the future. Those who adopted were more inclined to show greater enthusiasm for health technology in general.
Overall, this is only the beginning of the discussion surrounding physicians’ relationship with technology in the medical sphere. Hope to share more knowledge and firsthand experience in another blog post this semester!
1. Grant, Richard W., Eric G. Campbell, Russell L. Gruen, Timothy G. Ferris, and David Blumenthal. “Prevalence of Basic Information Technology Use by U.S. Physicians.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 21.11 (2006): 1150-155. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.
2. Baker, Laurence, Todd H. Wagner, Sara Singer, and M. K. Bundorf. “Use of the Internet and E-mail for Health Care Information: Results From a National Survey.” JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 289.18 (2003): 2400-406. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.
3. Glenn, Brandon. “Nearly 60% of Physicians Don’t Use Mobile Technology for Clinical Purposes.” Medical Economics. N.p., 15 May 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2015.