New publication: Using an online community of practice to explore the informal use of mobile phones by health workers

1 February, 2023

Increasingly, HIFA discussions are of such high quality that we are able to publish them in a peer-reviewed journal. Thanks to HIFA members' inputs, we have published a paper in the journal Oxford Open Digital Health, and below are the citation and abstract.

CITATION: Using an online community of practice to explore the informal use of mobile phones by health workers 
Claire Glenton, Josephine Nabukenya, Smisha Agarwal, Michele Meltzer, Elisabeth Mukendi, Immaculate Nakityo Lwanga, Josephine Namitala, Sunanda Reddy, Geoff Royston, Tigest Tamrat ... Show more
Oxford Open Digital Health, https://doi.org/10.1093/oodh/oqac003
Published: 04 January 2023 

ABSTRACT: Health workers are increasingly harnessing mobile phones to develop their own solutions to work challenges. The mHEALTH-INNOVATE project aims to explore this topic further. In 2022, Healthcare Information for All (HIFA) organised an online discussion among health workers and other stakeholders to inform the project. Twenty-five people joined the discussion. Contributors’ descriptions of the varieties of mobile phone use tallied with previous research, including for communication with patients and colleagues. In addition, they described increased mobile phone use in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the increased need for communication, monitoring and reporting, including during lockdowns. Some solutions were health worker-initiated, including the establishment of WhatsApp groups. The discussion has helped develop a definition of informal mobile phone use.

Our thanks to our colleagues on the mHEALTH-INNOVATE research consortium for the opportunity for HIFA to serve a large research project in this way. To our knowledge this is the first time that a community of practice has been used in this way. The approach brings many benefits to the research process and to HIFA itself, and we look forward to contribute to more research projects in the future.

As a reminder, we are holding a webinar today 1st February to discuss this and a second related project (SUPPORT-SYSTEMS). Please join us!