Why Physicians Prefer Apple Over Android

By John Oncea, Editor

Follow John on Twitter: @buck25

It’s no longer a secret that the healthcare industry is welcoming mobile devices with open arms. But why is Apple cornering the market?

Physicians have revealed in numerous articles the platform of choice when utilizing mobile devices are iPads and iPhones. What is it that makes these Apple products more popular than the Android operating system, and what are physicians using mobile devices for?

electronista likens the transition to a paperless healthcare industry to a similar one the airline industry is undergoing – one that also has seen the iPad become the device of choice. “Apple so far has almost complete control of tablets' use in the air,” writes electronista. “Both its advantage as first on the market as well as its wider app catalog have been considered crucial where rivals have only been an option for the past few months and don't have the equivalent in apps.” Simply put, timing is everything.

Business 2 Community implies Apple’s “getting tough on medical apps” in the name of public safety is another reason for its dominance. “According to medical app review site iMedicalApps, a number of medical app developers have received rejection notices from Apple because they included medication dosage information in their app,” writes Business 2 Community. “Apple says it only accepts medical dosage information submitted by the medicine’s manufacturer.”

Nathanael Arnold of Wall St. CheatSheet points out application vendors have taken note of the healthcare industries preference of Apple, writing, “One hundred twenty two vendors state they are currently working on iPad versions of their EHR apps, while 135 vendors have plans to create EHR apps optimized for the iPad.” The vendors continued development of iPad apps will allow Apple “to grow its presence in the overall business and enterprise world” and further entrench it and the “popularity of its mobile devices in the healthcare industry.”

This doesn’t mean Apple can rest on its laurels. DiagnosticImaging quotes George Shih, MD, MS, of Weill Cornell, as saying “open source platforms like that of the Android devices will reign in the future” because, “The open architecture of these systems allow for easier development of apps and sharing of health information.”

As to what physicians are using mobile devices for, MedCity News reports it depends on if the device is a smartphone or a tablet. Pulling data from two studies generated from a survey by AmericanEHRPartners of 1,400 with responses from about 696 physicians and 150 allied health professionals, MedCity News notes in a clinical work setting, doctors who have electronic health records use their smartphones every day to:

• send and receive emails (65%)
• use apps (51%)
• instant message (50%)
• research information about medications (35%)
• communicate with other physicians (32%)

The same group says it uses tablets to:

• send and receive e-mails (52.4%)
• access electronic health records (50.6%)
• access diagnostic information (41.7%)
• research information about medication (33.3%)
• stay up to date with medical journals and papers (29.8%)

PhysBizTech, referring to the same AmercianEHRPartners study, notes that despite the increasing usage of mobile devices “docs feel there's much room for improvement in clinical apps generally.” It quotes Thomas Stringham, co-founder of AmericanEHR Partners, as saying, “As the adoption of mobile devices increases, so do the expectations of clinical users. The health IT sector and app developers have an opportunity to improve the quality and usefulness of clinical mobile apps."