Resident Use of the Internet, E-Mail, and Personal Electronics in the Care of Surgical Patients

Background:

The use of smartphones, e-mail, and the Internet has affected virtually all areas of patient care. Current university and hospital policies concerning the use of devices may be incongruent with day-to-day patient care. Purpose: The goal was to assess the current usage patterns of the Internet, e-mail, and personal electronics for clinical purposes by surgical residents as well as their communication habits and preferences. Also assessed was residents’ knowledge regarding the institutional policies surrounding these issues. Methods: Surgical residents (n = 294) at a large teaching institution were surveyed regarding their knowledge of university policies as well as daily use of various communication technologies. Communication preferences were determined using theoretical clinical scenarios. Results: Our survey with a response rate of 54.7% (n = 161) revealed that 93.8% of participants indicated daily Internet use for clinical duties. Most respondents (72%) were either completely unaware of the existence of guidelines for its use or aware but had no familiarity with their content. Use of e-mail for clinical duties was common (85%), and 74% of the respondents rated e-mail as “very important” or “extremely important” for patient care. Everyone who responded had a mobile phone with 98.7% being “smartphones,” which the majority (82.9%) stated was “very important” or “extremely important” for patient care. Text messaging was the primary communication method for 57.8% of respondents. The traditional paging system was the primary communication method for only 1.3% of respondents and the preferred method for none. Conclusions: Daily use of technology is the norm among residents; however, knowledge of university guidelines was exceedingly low. Residents need better education regarding current guidelines. Current guidelines do not reflect current clinical practice. Hospitals should consider abandoning the traditional paging system and consider facilitating better use of residents’ mobile phones.

Keywords:

• surgery
• technology
• policy
• privacy
• communication

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons, May 30, 2013, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.