Third-year medical students’ knowledge of privacy and security issues concerning mobile devices

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

Use of mobile devices is ubiquitous among medical students. Medical students are using their mobile devices to access the Internet and their emails. The majority of medical students do not lock, either electronically or physically, their mobile devices when not in use. Education on possible security and privacy issues concerning mobile devices in healthcare settings should be addressed.

Table 1.  Mobile device features used during a normal weekday, in percents (n = 67)

	Minimal 1–10 min	Rarely 11–30 min	Sometimes 31–60 min	Often 1–2 h	Very often more than 3 h	Do not use	Feature not available
Talking (voice to voice)	16.7	42.4	24.2	12.1	4.5	0	0
Internet (http://www…)	21.5	35.4	9.2	10.8	0	15.4	7.7
Chatting (IM)	(30.8)	3.1	0	1.5	0	49.2	15.4
Email	20.0	29.2	12.3	7.7	0	21.5	9.2
Text Messaging (SMS)	27.3	27.3	22.7	15.2	1.5	4.5	1.5
Multimedia messaging (MMS) (picture and video messaging)	51.6	7.8	0	0	0	37.5	3.1
Camera	59.4	7.8	3.1	0	0	29.7	0
Calendar	38.5	23.1	7.7	7.7	0	21.5	1.5
Note pad	(38.1)	9.5	0	1.6	0	49.2	1.6
Address Book	(32.8)	14.1	12.5	0	0	37.5	3.1
GPS (maps)	32.3	13.8	4.6	1.5	0	29.2	18.5
FaceBook	(24.6)	18.5	7.7	1.5	0	35.4	12.3
Music player	(20.3)	7.8	9.4	9.4	0	45.3	7.8
Video player	(29.7)	4.7	0	3.1	0	53.1	9.4
University medical library's web pages	(24.6)	1.5	4.6	0	0	60.0	9.2

Note: The highest bolded percentages in the parentheses indicate percent of actual use; the highest percentage for that category is the do not use category.

Table 2.  Privacy and security scenarios, with answers on a five-point Likert Scale, ranging from not a privacy concern to definitely a privacy concern

Question	Not a privacy concern		Somewhat a privacy concern		Definitely a privacy concern
On rotations, you saw a really cool skin lesion that your buddy on Ob/Gyn rotation missed. You snapped a picture via your phone and sent it to him.
	6.3%	6.3%	32.8%	9.4%	45.3%
While on pediatric rotation, a case of suspected child abuse comes in. You took pictures of the child's injuries on your phone to share with authorities.
	14.3%	6.3%	34.9%	4.8%	39.7%
Emailed history & physical (H&P) to professor w/de-identified information via mobile device.
	58.7%	19.0%	17.5%	1.6%	3.2%
Emailed (H&P) to professor with patient information intact via mobile device.
	3.2%	8.1%	8.1%	12.9%	67.7%
Read an email with de-identified H&P information via mobile device.
	58.1%	19.4%	19.4%	1.6%	1.6%
Texted incoming on-call resident that Mr. Johnson is especially grumpy tonight.
	4.8%	19.0%	33.3%	14.3%	28.6%
Posted de-identified procedure of a patient on Facebook.
	4.7%	6.3%	26.6%	20.3%	42.2%
Posted de-identified procedure of a patient on YouTube.
	1.6%	6.5%	22.6%	24.2%	45.2%
Leaving my mobile device alone, turned on, not password protected, in a room full of fellow students/colleagues for 5 min or less.
	23.8%	22.2%	30.2%	11.1%	12.7%
Leaving my mobile device alone, turned on, not password protected, in a room full of fellow students/colleagues for 30–60 min.
	17.2%	18.8%	26.6%	14.1%	23.4%

Note: Highest percentage for each response is bolded.

Table 3.  Physical and electronic locking of personal phones and personal PDAs (n = 67)

	Personal phone physically lock (%)	Personal phone electronically lock^a (%)	Personal PDA physically lock (%)	Personal PDA electronically lock^a (%)
Always (100%)	21.9	17.2	16.1	14.5
Frequently (75%)	3.1	1.6	6.5	0.0
Sometimes (50%)	7.8	1.6	11.3	3.2
Rarely (25%)	10.9	4.7	8.1	3.2
Never	51.6	59.4	35.5	46.8
Not applicable	4.7	3.1	22.6	19.4

Note: ^aSome devices were not capable of being electronically locked; therefore, not all columns equal 100%.