Watch any nurse for even a short period of time, and it quickly becomes apparent that efficiency matters. It is no surprise that the concept of triage comes from the healthcare community.
Given this need for efficiency, anything that helps a nurse get more done quickly and effectively is a valuable asset. One of those valuable assets is a familiar smartphone, which is why the bring your own device (BYOD) trend has been taken up by the nursing community.
“RNs have greater familiarity with their own devices and the more familiar they are, the greater the tendency there is for nurses to optimize the use of the device to its fullest capacity for improved patient care," said Judith Church, DHA, MSN, faculty member in the health care and health care informatics programs at American Sentinel University, in an article by Medical News Today.
“Since nurses are most familiar with their own devices, they will work more effectively and efficiently,” she added. “Equipment--no matter what it is--is only as effective as its setup and use.”
Roughly 61 percent of hospitals and health systems in a recent survey said that half of their employees use personal mobile devices for work. Half said this was only for e-mail and calendaring, but 36 percent said that employees were accessing patient data with these BYOD devices, according to Medical News Today.
Further, 69 percent of hospitals say their nursing staff use personal devices at work, according to a Point of Care Computing for Nursing 2012 report.
Using their own mobile devices specifically improved patient safety and reduce the risk of medical errors, according to nurses who have been surveyed. Many believe that personal devices enable them to fill in critical communication gaps with the technologies provided by the hospital.
In addition to efficiency, BYOD also brings cost savings to healthcare.
"The BYOD trend will thrive in nursing because health care organizations save money when the employee purchases the device,” admitted Church.
But managing the range of devices and ensuring that patient data is secure is an issue with BYOD.
"The drawback to BYOD in nursing is that it contributes to a non-standardization of a work arena's equipment," Church noted. "Nurses should realize that IT policies exist for a reason to protect data integrity and security and should adhere to them at all times when participating in a BYOD initiative.”
Mobile device management (MDM) solutions are helping healthcare organizations keep patient data secure, although many organizations have yet to adopt the technology because BYOD is so new.
With MDM, a container can be put around work apps and data so the nurse keeps control of the device but the healthcare organization can protect patient data and enforce compliance standards at the same time when the device is used for professional purposes.
Device manufacturers such as Apple (News - Alert) have even started building basic MDM into their phones, although the functionality is still far less than dedicated commercial MDM offerings such as Fiberlink’s MaaS360.
Healthcare organizations need to address the security and policy issues, because BYOD isn’t going away in the nursing community any time soon.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey