Report: 27% of Pediatric Physicians Prefer Text Messages for Communication in Patient-Care Settings

The way physicians are communicating is changing, evidenced in the prevalence of physicians who use and prefer text messaging as a means of communicating among themselves and with their staff, according to study results presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference.

Researchers from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita surveyed 106 pediatric hospitalists. A majority of the participants were female and had been in practice less than 10 years. While participants reported that verbal communication was the most frequent method of communication used in the hospital setting (92 percent), more than half of participants (57 percent) reported that they send and/or receive work-related text messages while at work. Additional key findings include:

• Nearly half reported receiving work-related text messages when not scheduled to be on call.
• Twelve percent reported receiving text messages 10 or more times per shift.
• Fifty-nine percent reported receiving text messages from other pediatric hospitalists. Thirty-four percent receive texts from fellows or resident physicians and 25 percent from consulting physicians.

When asked what method for brief communication they prefer, 27 percent said text to mobile phone, 23 percent reported hospital assigned pager and 21 percent said verbal face-to-face communication.

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