Nearly three-fourths of healthcare organizations (73 percent) allow some form of bring-your-own-device, according to spok's BYOD Trends in Healthcare: An Industry Snapshot report.
Here are five BYOD trends to know.
1. The use of mobile devices in healthcare ranges widely. Here are the devices survey respondents indicated using in their organizations:
• Smartphones: 75 percent
• In-house pagers: 67 percent
• Tablets: 65 percent
• Wide-area pagers: 57 percent
• Wi-Fi phones: 45 percent
• Other: 9 percent
• Wearables: 4 percent
2. Of the smartphones and tablets used in healthcare, 48 percent of personal devices and 52 percent are hospital-issued.
3. Survey respondents reported using various types of smartphones including:
• iPhone: 92 percent (up 10 percent from 2014)
• Android: 67 percent (up 15 percent from 2014)
• Windows: 18 percent (up 6 percent from 2014)
• BlackBerry: 5 percent (down 20 percent from 2014)
4. Physicians are the most common group allowed to participate in BYOD programs, but many other staff groups are also doing so.
• Physicians: 91 percent
• Administrators: 79 percent
• IT staff: 66 percent
• Nurses: 51 percent
• Lab technicians: 23 percent
• Transport: 16 percent
• Housekeeping: 14 percent
• Other: 13 percent
5. BYOD programs, while popular, are not without challenges. The survey respondents reported data security (62 percent), Wi-Fi infrastructure (55 percent) and IT support for uses (42 percent) as the top challenges. The top reasons cited by organizations that do not offer BYOD programs include:
• Data security concerns: 81 percent
• IT support: 38 percent
• Cost: 26 percent