Table 3 Medical smartphone app usage as reflected by the closed questions
Item | Trainees (n = 170) | Specialists (n = 80) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
(B02) The use of medical apps, yes a | 146 (85.88) | 63 (78.75) | 0.23 |
(B03) Reason for using … b | |||
Curiosity | 33 (18.24) | 3 (3.75) | 0.002 |
Allowing quick access to medical information | 134 (78.82) | 61 (76.25) | 0.65 |
Most colleagues do it | 4 (2.35) | 0 (0.00) | 0.17 |
To save time in identifying solutions to clinical problems | 80 (47.06) | 29 (36.25) | 0.11 |
(B04) Top five type of medical applications b | |||
Treatment | 93 (54.7) | 38 (47.5) | 0.29 |
“Medical news” | 79 (46.5) | 30 (37.5) | 0.18 |
Medical calculators | 79 (46.5) | 28 (35.0) | 0.11 |
Diagnosis | 61 (35.9) | 21 (26.3) | 0.13 |
“Scoring system” | 55 (32.4) | 22 (27.5) | 0.43 |
(B05) When do you use the apps? b | |||
for each patient, regardless of case | 23 (13.5) | 7 (8.8) | 0.29 |
for atypical patients | 64 (37.6) | 31 (38.8) | 0.86 |
to stay in touch with medical news | 42 (24.7) | 24 (30.0) | 0.38 |
at home, for individual study | 18 (10.6) | 2 (2.5) | 0.03 |
(B06) How can apps improve medical care? b | |||
Fast search of scientific literature | 135 (78.8) | 56 (70.0) | 0.13 |
Shortest time from consultation to diagnosis and treatment | 61 (35.9) | 19 (23.8) | 0.06 |
Encouraging continuous medical documentation … | 53 (31.2) | 28 (35.0) | 0.55 |
Availability to be used in any circumstance, even at the bedside … | 33 (19.4) | 13 (16.3) | 0.56 |
(B08) Can mobile medical apps reduce healthcare costs? a | |||
Yes, because they decrease unnecessary health service requests | 50 (29.4) | 23 (28.8) | 0.92 |
Yes, because they avoid further expensive investigation | 26 (15.3) | 8 (10.0) | 0.25 |
No | 12 (7.1) | 4 (5.0) | 0.53 |
They could cut the future costs of healthcare … | 113 (66.5) | 51 (63.8) | 0.68 |
(B09) Drawbacks in using medical apps b | |||
incomplete definitions and treatment regimen | 71 (41.8) | 25 (31.3) | 0.11 |
the absence of scientific references to support the evidence | 87 (51.2) | 26 (32.5) | 0.01 |
an Internet connection is needed to access scientific articles | 56 (32.9) | 23 (28.8) | 0.52 |
non-functional applications | 47 (27.6) | 12 (15.0) | 0.03 |
they are limited to English speakers | 26 (15.3) | 9 (11.3) | 0.40 |
the readability level is too low | 34 (20.0) | 9 (11.3) | 0.09 |
(B11) EBM medical apps b | |||
Explicit references, LE and DR | 65 (38.2) | 30 (37.5) | 0.92 |
Only specified the LE | 21 (12.4) | 7 (8.8) | 0.40 |
Only specified the DR | 26 (15.3) | 12 (15.0) | 0.95 |
Only specified the references | 21 (12.4) | 10 (12.5) | 0.98 |
I do not know mobile medical apps that implement EBM | 19 (11.2) | 3 (3.8) | 0.06 |
I have not paid attention to this issue | 8 (4.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0.05 |