Dear HIFA colleagues,
What do we mean by informal phone use? We recognise that this is quite a complex idea to grasp. Formally, the research team has defined it as: 'healthcare workers’ use of mobile phones to support their work, using approaches that are initiated by the healthcare workers themselves and that are initially not standardized, regulated or endorsed by the health system or organization to which they belong’. For me, and perhaps for others, the words 'initiated', 'standardized', 'regulated' and 'endorsed' are unclear. For example, if a health worker uses their mobile phone to contact a patient, with their supervisor being quite happy that they do this although not having it written in formal guidance - is this 'endorsed'?
The complexity of the definition, and the complexity of the issues surrounding informal use, may have made this topic more challenging to address than other topics.
A few days ago I proposed a simpler definition for the purpose of our discussion: health workers' use of personal mobile phones for work purposes.
Principal Investigator Claire Glenton has pointed out that this definition is not 100% accurate, as:
'* Healthcare workers sometimes use formal work phones informally, in other words to carry out tasks that are not formally regulated. For instance, some healthcare workers have been given work phones by NGOs for very specific purposes such as gathering data. However, they may also choose to use these phones informally, for instance to contact patients in ways that are not formally regulated.
* Secondly, healthcare workers sometimes use personal in ways that are formally regulated, for instance through “Bring-Your-Own-Device” (BYOD) approaches'.
She says: 'I agree that the focus on personal phone use if the most relevant, but in that case, the definition still needs to make it clear that we are not talking about formally regulated BYOD approaches.'
Arguably we don't yet have a definition that is both accurate and easily grasped.
In my next message I'll share an update of where we are with these discussions, including all 10 questions in the preparatory phase and 5 questions in the upcoming thematic discussion phase.
Best wishes, Neil
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