[Note: HIFA is supporting mHEALTH-INNOVATE, an international research consortium exploring how health workers use their personal mobile phones to support their work. HIFA is the main platform for sharing experience and expertise on this topic. Your inputs over the coming days and weeks are crucial and will feed into high-level policy discussions at WHO. See https://www.hifa.org/mhealth ]
While healthcare workers’ informal phone use can plug gaps in the healthcare system, our research suggests that it can also undermine the healthcare system. For instance, storing and sharing of information about patient flow or logistics on personal phones means that information is lost and can cause problems for the system in general and patient care specifically.
For example, in Thailand: "Tang, a hospital nurse, explained that if the community healthcare worker only called without sending referral cards, ‘there will be no record of how many patients have been referred to us. Sometimes we [the hospital staff] did not keep track…” (Ling 2020, in Glenton 2024).
QUESTION: : In your setting, is loss to the healthcare system of patient or management information due to informal mobile phone use an important issue, as in Thailand and other settings? How can healthcare workers who are using their personal mobile phones ensure that important information is available to those who need it?
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org