SMARTPHONE MEDICAL APPLICATION USE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PHYSICIAN AT REFFERAL HOSPITALS IN AMHARA REGION NORTH ETHIOPIA 2019

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Medical knowledge is rapidly expanding and updating. It is very important that physicians can timely access to information and the latest scientific evidence without any time and place limitation. The smartphone medical application is one of ICT tools that adopted greatly by physicians. Today, most hospitals have adopted smartphone medical application as a medical aid tool and acquisition licenses for smartphone medical apps resources in clinical practice of their physicians. Aim: This research was conducted to determine smartphone applications use and associated factors among physician at referral hospitals in Amhara region, Ethiopia 2019. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study design was conducted among physicians working at referral hospitals in Amhara region, Ethiopia from February 5 to May 27, 2019. 423 physicians were participated, Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire and in-depth interview for quantitative and qualitative respectively. The validity of the questionnaire was determined based on the view of experts and the reliability of it obtained by calculating the value of Cronbach’s alpha (? = 0.78). The data were entered using Epi-Info version 7. Software and the analysis were done using SPSS software version 20. Descriptive statistics, bi-variable, and multi-variable logistic regression analyses were used to assess factors associated with smartphone medical application use among physicians. Adjusted odds ratio at 95% CI was used to describe the association between the factors and the outcome variables. Thematic content analysis method was used for qualitative data analysis. Results: 89% of the physicians had medical application installed on their smartphone, from these participants 63.3% of the physicians used smartphone medical applications during clinical practice. The most common applications used often by physicians include Up to date, Medscape, Medcalc and Doximity. Attitude(AOR=1.64, CI: [1.05, 2.55]), internet access(AOR=2.82,CI:[1.75,4.54]), Computer training(AOR=1.71, CI:[1.09,2.67]),perceived usefulness of application(AOR=1.64,CI: [1.05,2.54]), IT support staff(AOR=2.363,CI: [1.53.08]),

and technical skill(AOR=2.52, CI:[1.50-4.25]) were statistically have significant association with smartphone medical application use. Conclusion: In this study smartphone medical application use among physician was 63.3%. Attitude, internet access, Computer training, perceived usefulness of application, IT support staff, and technical skill were factors associated with medical app use. Keywords: smartphone, medical applications, physicians, associated factors