Vice of Mobile Texting among Physicians

Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the demographics of mobile texting behavior among physicians at community-based US hospital. Physicians are role models to their patients, providing behavior modification and health promotion with regard to safety practices their patients’ day-to-day lives.

Methodology: A short survey questionnaire was conducted at many US teaching hospitals between June 2013 and September 2013.  The survey was implemented electronically using SurveyMonkey. The link to the survey was emailed individually to all physicians.  Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software 21 version. 

Results: A total of 182 health care providers participated of which 32%  were resident physicians and 51% attending physicians, respectively. Male to Female ratio was 1:1. Most responders (26.9%) were over 51 years. At least 85.7% of the study population had driven at least once a week. Most of the physicians (82%) had the texting feature on their cell phones and majority (~80%) talked on the phone while driving but only 57% used texting while driving. Most physicians (79%) thought that texting while driving is an important public health issue with significant implications. Interestingly, there was no statistically significant difference in opinion among physicians that mobile texting improves patient care (30.8% versus 36.3%; P>0.01).

Conclusions:  Further research is needed to evaluate whether physicians could be instrumental in providing anticipatory guidance to adults in terms of cell phone use during primary care visits. This idea faces many constraints including the duration of primary care visits and need to address other health concerns.