Smart phone as a medium to access medical information: a field study of military physicians

This paper aims to investigate the suitability of smart phones in the context of military medicine. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have been adopted more often than smart phones in mobile medical care. In this paper, we aim to present results on the use of smart phones by military physicians. In the autumn 2005, thirty one physicians used a smart phone during their military service. We interviewed seven of these physicians during a training camp three months after they had received and used the smart phones in various field conditions. The study brings some light on the suitability of a given smart phone, the Nokia Communicator for field military operations. The importance of such a study resides in the fact that it uncovers critical shortcomings of the device and the software, which could result in the physicians’ poor performance during the course of their core activities and duties. The study also gives valuable insights in the adoption potential of smart phones in military medicine.