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Demographics Correlate with Physician Web Technology Use

From: The Hospitalist, August 2012

Younger, male doctors at teaching hospitals were better predictors of technology use than were practice-based characteristics.

by Larry Beresford

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association offers demographic predictors of physicians and their usage of web-based communication technologies.¹ Younger, male doctors who have privileges at a teaching hospital were better predictors of the use of various technologies during the previous six months than were practice-based characteristics, such as specialty, setting, years in practice, or number of patients treated. Communication strategies tallied included using portable devices to access the Internet, visiting social networking websites, communicating by email with patients, listening to podcasts, or writing blog posts.

Lead author Crystale Purvis Cooper, PhD, a researcher at the Soltera Center for Cancer Prevention and Control in Tucson, Ariz., and colleagues drew upon 2009 data from 1,750 physicians in DocStyles, an annual survey of physicians and other health professionals conducted by communications firm Porter Novelli.

References

Cooper CP, Gelb CA, Rim SH, Hawkins NA, Rodriguez JL, Polonec L. Physicians who use social media and other internet-based communication technologies. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012 May 25 [Epub ahead of print].

This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. No part of this article can be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients, or customers by contacting our reprints department at reprints@wiley.com. Copyright © 2009 Society of Hospital Medicine, administered by John Wiley & Sons Inc.

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The Hospitalist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in hospital medicine. The Hospitalist reaches more than 25,000 hospitalists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, residents, and medical administrators interested in the practice and business of hospital medicine.

ISSN: 1553-085X