PDA & Health Professionals

Doctors using PDAs make less mistakes ?

A Survey conducted by SKYSCAPE revealed that

medical personnel using PDAs make less errors. I am not sure how much to trust it, since it was done by Skyscape who has an obvious interest in reporting this, but take a look for yourself at the PR:

Skyscape Survey: 50 Percent of Medical Professionals Who Use Handhelds Significantly Reduce Their Medical Errors HUDSON, Mass. –(Business Wire)– Oct. 6, 2004 —
Study Finds Differences in PDA Use Among Cardiologists, Nurses, Pediatricians and Internists

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently highlighted a 10-year roadmap for improving the nation’s healthcare system through increased hospital use of information technology. This has proven to be among the most cost effective ways to improve patient care quality and reduce medical errors. Medical professionals empowered by information make better decisions while at the patient’s bedside.

A new survey released today demonstrates the effectiveness of mobile and point-of-care decision support. It indicates the significant impact that handheld computers have on the daily activities of different medical specialists. The study, conducted by Skyscape, shows that more than 50 percent of medical professionals indicated personal digital assistant (PDA) use reduces their medical errors by more than 4 percent. Among internists, 24 percent indicated it reduces their medical errors by more than 10 percent. The use of multiple medical references on one PDA is widespread – more than 78 percent of respondents have at least three medical references on their PDA.

The survey of more than 1,600 medical professionals who use handheld computers was conducted in August 2004. Survey respondents were cardiologists, pediatricians, nurses or internal medicine practitioners.

“This is the first study to examine the different ways that various medical specialties use handheld computers, and it produced some interesting results. Of particular interest is the value medical professionals attribute to PDAs in improving efficiency and helping to reduce medical errors,” said RJ Mathew, vice president, marketing and business development for Skyscape. “Further, many medical professionals now load multiple references on their PDAs; it is essential that these references all work together seamlessly and be easy to use. This effective integration is what Skyscape’s smARTlink technology provides.”

PDA Use Varies By Medical Specialty

Respondents to the Skyscape survey stated that PDA use provides significant benefits. It improves the overall quality of patient care, by providing them the needed information to make informed decisions and reduce medical errors. Specific results include:

— Reducing Medical Errors: Internists and Pediatricians Impacted Most–Although more than 50 percent of medical professionals reported that using PDAs reduced medical errors by more than 4 percent, the most impressive reduction in medical errors were with internists and pediatricians. More than 41 percent of internists reported that using a PDA reduces medical errors by more than six percent, with 24 percent reporting a decrease of more than 10 percent. For pediatricians, more than 27 percent reported reductions of six percent or greater.

— Medical Professionals Rely on Multiple References–Medical professionals do not just rely on one reference for their PDA. More than 78 percent of survey respondents have at least three medical references on their PDA–an increase of 8 percent since December 2003. Forty-six percent of internists have five or more references and 10 percent indicated they have 10 or more references on their PDA.

— Cardiologists Use PDAs More Frequently–More than 61 percent of medical professionals use their PDAs at least six times a day. Thirteen percent of internists use their PDA 25 times or more a day.

— Drug References In High Demand–When asked how they use their PDAs, on average 88 percent of respondents indicated that they use it to check drug references. Thirty-eight percent of respondents indicated that they also use it for drug interaction checks, with cardiologists and internists the most likely to use it for that purpose.

— Peds and Clinical References Popular– More than 75 percent of pediatricians use their PDAs for accessing clinical references, a figure more than 10 percent higher than cardiologists and nurses.

— PDAs Provide Improved Efficiency–Almost 92 percent of the doctors concluded that PDAs help them improve their efficiency.

About Skyscape

Skyscape is the leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions that improve the quality and efficiency of patient care and help reduce medical errors. Skyscape provides more than 240 of medicine’s most trusted and reputable medical references, from more than 30 major medical publishers, for over 35 medical specialties, all integrated via its patented smARTlink technology. Skyscape’s Constellation suites are all-in-one decision support solutions customized for individual specialties and include critical information on drugs, diseases, interactions, lab information, treatment options and guidelines. Skyscape has the largest installed base of paying customers in the industry, including hospitals, medical schools and individual practitioners at hundreds of leading institutions. Skyscape’s solutions are available on multiple platforms, including Palm OS(R), Windows(R) CE and Pocket PC.