Integration of Smartphones into clinical pharmacy practice: An evaluation of the impact on pharmacists׳ efficiency

• Personal smartphones are used frequently by healthcare practitioners.
• There is a paucity of data supporting smartphone use by clinical pharmacists.
• Pharmacists answered situational time-trial questions 6 min faster with smartphones.
• Pharmacists accepted smartphones into their practice.
• Clinical pharmacists felt positively about using smartphones in their practice.

BackgroundPersonal smartphones are used frequently by healthcare practitioners in hospitals to assist in the provision of care. Island Health is one of the first health authorities in Canada to endorse the iPhone®smartphone as a potentially valuable tool for clinical practice.ObjectiveTo measure smartphones effect on pharmacists׳ efficiency, to assess pharmacist acceptance of corporate smartphones, and to investigate how these devices are being utilized.MethodsThis multi-center time-trial, survey, and observational prospective study enrolled 90 pharmacists across eight hospitals on Vancouver Island. Participants performed a time-trial of 22 situational drug information questions before and after receiving an iPhone®. They also completed demographic and satisfaction surveys. A subset of 14 of the 90 pharmacists participated in a pre- and post- iPhone® implementation eight hour direct observation study. Lastly, communication data from the phone service provider was collected and analyzed.ResultsSmartphone use was associated with a faster median response time of approximately six minutes for all situational time-trial questions combined (48 min:15 s pre-iPhone® vs. 42 min:18 s post-iPhone®) (p=0.039). Smartphone use did not significantly influence time spent walking to obtain a resource, time spent using computers, or time spent answering of clinical questions during observation. Almost half of pharmacists reported that using the smartphone increased their confidence and competence to resolve drug therapy problems.ConclusionsPharmacists readily accepted smartphones into their practice and felt positively about using them. Smartphones did not improve direct observation measures of workflow, but they did improve pharmacists׳ efficiency in the answering of hypothetical drug information questions (p=0.039). This study indicates that if smartphones are incorporated into pharmacy practice in a structured, organized manner with supports and training in place, smartphone uptake will occur and pharmacists will adapt and incorporate this technology into their daily routine with no predicted deterioration in the quality of their work. The impact of improved efficiency on patient care resulting from an increased reliance on technology and time spent on devices needs to be further assessed.