Most surveyed physicians prefer to use desktop computers for clinical practice management, electronic prescribing and accessing electronic health records, according to a survey by Sharecare and the Little Blue Book, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 6/25).
Sharecare is a health and wellness social network and the Little Blue Book is its subsidiary. The two groups' 2012 National Physician Survey includes responses from 1,190 doctors in 75 specialties.
Survey Findings
According to the survey, desktop computers were "by far the most commonly used tool" for clinical needs, "with the laptop a distant second."
The survey stated, "It seems administrative tasks are still anchored to the desktop PC, and that both e-prescribing and [EHR] use run quite closely in terms of prevalence on any piece of hardware" (Versel, MobiHealthNews, 6/26).
The survey found that for e-prescribing, accessing EHRs and other clinical needs:
The report also found that about 30% of specialty surgeons use iPads for clinical purposes, compared with 10% of primary care physicians (MobiHealthNews, 6/26).
Additional Findings
The survey found that:
- 95% of surveyed physicians communicate with other doctors via telephone;
- 63% communicate with other doctors through fax;
- 58% communicate with other doctors in person; and
- 34% communicate with other doctors through email.
It also found that:
- 91% of surveyed physicians communicate with patients via telephone;
- 84% communicate with patients in person;
- 20% communicate with patients via email;
- 8% communicate with patients through personal health records; and
- 6% communicate with patients via text messages (Healthcare IT News, 6/25).