Nurses, Physicians Increase PDA Usage - Brief Article

Health Management Technology, Oct, 2001

Use of wireless handheld devices by clinicians continues to climb. The latest tallies come from a Harris national poll of physicians and reports from nurses in a visiting nurses association.

Physician use of handhelds as an integral part of their daily practice grew to 18 percent, up from 10 percent in 1999, says the poll from Harris Interactive, Rochester, NY. Overall usage by physicians increased to 26 percent in 2001 from 15 percent in 1999 when including personal and professional use. Usage was highest among doctors under 45 (33 percent) and wholly or partly hospital based (33 and 29 percent).

Use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) by clinicians in the Visiting Nurses Association of Orange County, CA, is increasing too--because it drastically reduces their paperwork. Seven months into a PDA pilot program, Jeneane Brian, the association's CEO, reports almost a 50 percent reduction in the time nurses spent on paperwork. Before the program, nurses spent an average of 48 minutes on paperwork for each hour of patient care. Those using PDAs have cut that time to 25 minutes.