[Background: Since 2022 HIFA is supporting mHEALTH-INNOVATE, an international research consortium exploring how health workers use their personal mobile phones to support their work. HIFA is the main platform for sharing experience and expertise on this topic. Your inputs over the coming days and weeks are crucial and will feed into high-level policy discussions at WHO. See https://www.hifa.org/news/mhealth-innovate-exploring-healthcare-workers-... ]
Our research indicates that one of the advantages of having access to a personal phone at work is that it can help healthcare workers stay connected to home. A nurse leader in the USA puts it like this:
"The nurses feel more comfortable when their children call and say they are home safe and sound. New mothers can view live video of their child’s first words, steps, etc. […]. I can go on and on about the advantages. This is a way of life for certain ages and as long as the phone doesn’t distract from patient care, I feel the advantages outweigh….” (Brandt 2016, in Glenton 2024).
But others are concerned about how personal phone use can lead to distractions at work because of calls from colleagues and family members or because of social media use.
QUESTION: Do healthcare workers and managers in your setting have similar views to those from the USA and other settings? How do they find a balance between the use of personal mobile phones for ‘legitimate’ tasks such as staying in touch with their children, and unnecessary distractions, such as social media use?
COMMENT (NPW): 'Connecting with home' and 'distractions' are arguably two separate issues. The ability to connect with home (and indeed with friends) could be considered a right - every health worker should in my view have the right to be connected to family and loved ones in the event of an emergency. I would be surprised if any work policies block such connections. On the other hand, it seems reasonable to restrict social connections during work hours in some circumstances. There again, the health worker should be free to use their phone for this purpose in their break times. It would seem straightforward to provide guidance in any work setting on the use of personal mobile phones for connecting with family and friends, and social media.
Are you aware of the above being an issue in your work? What measures could be taken to address it?
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