Doctors and nurses are loading up on multiple communications devices, none of them adequate to their needs, concludes a report by Spyglass Consulting Group.
According to the report, nearly 70 percent of interviewed physicians and nurses carry two or more communications devices, and some clinicians wear “batman utility belts” that carry a few pounds of devices. Yet over 80 percent said they’d prefer carrying around a single, integrated device instead.
For more on related topics, see CIO Insight’s Special Report on Health Care Information Technology
But neither technology or hospital workflow is set up to help that happen, said Gregg Malkary, director of Spyglass. “If you want to have fewer devices, it means these solutions need to be better integrated—and they’re not.”
Malkary thinks that the best solution would be a “universal inbox” that would not only collect messages from multiple sources but also help organize and prioritize them.
Ideally, the devices would provide patient information and aid collaboration with colleagues to boot.
Read the full story on eWeek.com: Report: Clinicians Use Inadequate Message Devices