Study: Physicians adopt smartphones and PDAs for clinical practice

More and more doctors are using PDAs or smartphones in their clinical care, and adapting mobile technology faster than the general public.

The study, performed by Manhattan Research, found that 54 percent of physicians own a PDA or smartphone. Another study, from Diffusion Group, predicted that 70 percent of physicians will own a smartphone or PDA within two years.

According to the Manhattan Research study, looking up drug references is the most popular clinical function of the devices. However, some use them for their medical calculators, decision-support tools or electronic health record access.

And more than half the doctors who use the devices don't want to let them go, saying they are "essential" to their professional practice.

To learn more about the studies:
- read this iHealthBeat piece

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