Difference between revisions of "Group differences in physician responses to handheld presentation of clinical evidence: a verbal protocol analysis"

Revision as of 06:52, 15 November 2007

Danielle M Lottridge, 1 Mark Chignell,1 Romana Danicic-Mizdrak,2 Nada J Pavlovic,1 Andre Kushniruk,3 and Sharon E Straus4

Introduction: More and more physicians, today, are adopting the use of handheld mobile computers for the presentation of clinical evidence. The purpose of this study is to access the needs and preferences of physicians regarding the use of Pocket PCs vs. Tablet PCs. Study Selection: Physicians from three user groups providing the majority of care in Ontario were selected to participate in the study. The three user groups were: General Internists, Family Physicians, and Internal Medicine Residents. The General Internists and Family Physicians were randomly selected from a group of physicians that had completed a survey on mobile computers. They had been selected from Toronto, a large urban area, and Sault St. Marie, a small urban area. Internal Medicine Residents were enlisted from the Internal Medicine Training Program at the University of Toronto.

Outcomes: 47 physicians partook in a 70-min. testing session in which they were required to complete several tasks using the Pocket PC and Tablet PC as evidence-based medicine resources to answer a variety of clinical questions. All sessions were videotaped and audio recorded by a human factors engineering expert.

Findings: The majority of comments about Clinical Evidence were concerned with the usability of the presentation of the content – with the majority being positive. Participants commended the devices’ ease of navigability, scrolling and formatting. Comments on content were split fairly equally amongst the positive and negative. Residents had more positive comments compared to negative, while General Internists and Family Physicians had more negative comments concerning content. Physicians had differing preferences for the handheld mobile devices. Family Physicians preferred the screen size of the Tablet PC, while the General Internists preferred portability and saw less need for screen size. The Internal Medicine Residents liked the screen size of the Tablet PC, but preferred the portability of the Pocket PC. Family Physicians focused more on the usefulness for the device rather than the usability of the device. They were interested in how it would fit into their office and if it could print patient materials. General Internists were more concerned with portability, due to the nature of their work. Internal Medicine Residents favored both the large screen of the Tablet, as well as the portability of the Pocket PC, however, favored portability over screen size.

Conclusion: This study investigated the differences in physician responses to the handheld presentation of clinical evidence. It is concluded that physician needs and preferences are the ultimate determinants when choosing the most ideal handheld device. Different types of physicians will have different needs and preferences dependent on their work role. It is vital to study the work role in order to determine the handheld device that most conforms to their needs.

Angela Vacca