gms | German Medical Science

Background: Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) represent important tools for healthcare quality improvement and their implementation has proven challenging. Handheld devices (HD) as smart phones (SP) and tablets, constitute pervasive tools for guideline diffusion and medical education. High use rates in developed countries contrast with a lack of information in developing countries.

Objectives: To characterize the implementation of an electronic decision support system (DSS) in Colombia, we performed a survey in residents to describe frequency and use patterns for MD and medical applications.

Methods: A survey (web and phone-based) was conducted among trainees – rotating January to October 2011 – in the National Cancer Institute, Bogota – Colombia.

Results: A response rate of 62% (232) was achieved, representative residents of clinical and surgical specialties were included, 39.6% in web-based and 60.3% in phone-based survey. 75.9% (176/232) residents had a HD. Most frequent operative system was BlackBerry OS (62%) followed by iOS (24%). Windows mobile and Android had less than 3%. Between those who use a HD, permanent access to internet and use of some medical application was reported in 89% and 64% of cases. Common used applications were medical databases, doses calculators and clinical practice guidelines, 72% use daily HD in their clinical practice.

Discussion: Elevated rates of HD and medical applications use could be related with participant’s age, 94.4% younger than 40 years. Clinical DSS developed for electronic devices must be considered as implementation strategies in our context. Frequently used operative systems were different from those reported in developed countries.