Smartphones in clinical pharmacy practice: Is it evidence-based?

• The majority of literature regarding the use of handheld computer technology by healthcare professionals pertains to the use of PDA devices.
• Trials that include pharmacists as participants have primarily studied the effects of PDAs on intervention documentation and subjective outcomes.
• There is a lack of evidence supporting the association between clinical pharmacists using smartphones and beneficial effects on objective patient outcomes.
• Prospective studies assessing the utility of smartphone use by clinical pharmacists are needed to support their funding by health authorities.

Smartphones are increasingly relied upon by healthcare professionals to facilitate communication, information retrieval and patient care documentation. The use of mobile technology, primarily by physicians, has been studied in various clinical settings and has been subjectively associated with positive outcomes; however, there is a lack of published evidence supporting the use of smartphones by hospital-based clinical pharmacists. Clinical pharmacists׳ activities have been shown to improve healthcare outcomes and a chronic shortage of these professionals has heightened the need for efficient delivery of clinical services; therefore, our objective was to review and evaluate the available literature pertaining to the use of smartphones or other mobile technology by clinical pharmacists. With the postulation that smartphones can improve pharmacists׳ time management, point of care access to information and intervention documentation, Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) has recently deployed iphones to its clinical pharmacy staff. Given the significant investment associated with these devices and the current lack of evidence with regards to their use by pharmacists, there is a need for prospective studies evaluating the effects of smartphones on clinical pharmacy practice in order to support their ongoing use.