Misconnecting for health: (lack of) advice for professionals on the safe use of mobile phone technology.

H ealthcare systems globally are looking to developments in communication technology to help meet the challenge of providing care for the increasing numbers of people with longterm conditions. 2 Mobile phones, with high penetration rates (.70% in Europe), may contribute significantly to this initiative. Diabetes, asthma, hypertension and coronary heart disease are examples of common long-term conditions in which the use of mobile phone-based technology may offer potential benefits. 4 Mobile phones, with their increasing capability for transmitting and receiving data in various formats (eg, text, audio and video), have been enthusiastically embraced by the general population, and are increasingly being explored as a means of improving access to care, transmitting monitoring data and supporting self-management. 4 With utopian zeal, the NHS has stated that ‘‘millions of people with asthma, diabetes and other long-term conditions could soon receive text messages on how to stay fit and healthy’’. In reality, however, until now, clinical use of mobile phones has remained the province of enthusiasts, with practical and medicolegal concerns inhibiting more widespread adoption. This is poised to change, as increasing public awareness of the clinical application of mobile technologies and ready availability of self-monitoring equipment fosters patient demand, echoing the direction of health service policy, which aims to increase the effective use of new technologies. 2 Faced with these two powerful drivers, clinicians will look to professional organisations for advice on the safe use of these technologies.