Dear HIFA colleagues,
This next topic is, I feel, central to the whole discussion.
Our research also looked at how personal phone use is currently regulated. What we found is that healthcare workers often do not know if policies or guidelines regulating the use of personal mobile phones in the workplace exist. And where they are aware of them, they sometimes perceive them as unclear, unrealistic and difficult to enforce.
QUESTION: Is healthcare workers’ personal phone use currently regulated in the workplace in your setting, for example through national policies or guidelines or local rules and regulations?
COMMENT (NPW): Without clear guidance and understanding, health workers' use of personal mobile phones for work purposes will inevitably lead to serious problems, the most important being breaches of confidentiality and privacy. There is a strong case to be made that every health worker should have clear, fair, and understandable guidance on personal mobile phone use for work purposes. What do you think?
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