A clinical smartphone is used by a doctor
By Your Edge Blog Team | April 10, 2020

A Doctor Weighs In: What Role Should Mobility Really Play in Healthcare?

Is it really a smart move to equip doctors and nurses with smartphones? If yes, just how much should they rely on them to record or inform patient care? International healthcare technology expert Dr. Zafar Chaudry answers these questions and more.

There’s widespread consensus among those in the healthcare community that increased mobile technology use can have a profound impact on the cost, quality and speed of patient care.

In Zebra’s latest Global Healthcare Vision Study, nurse managers reported that they have seen a 61 percent reduction in medication administration errors, 52 percent reduction in specimen collection labeling errors, 46 percent reduction in patient care issues related to communication breakdowns and 46 percent reduction in preventable medical errors since their hospitals started replacing nurses’ toolbelts with clinical smartphones and implementing other mobility solutions.

We’ve also heard firsthand from healthcare providers and administrators at Truman Medical Centers, Nemours Children’s Health System and others working on the front lines about the many different benefits they’ve gained since adopting purpose-built clinical mobility solutions.

Yet, mobile technology utilization within both acute and non-acute facilities is still very much in its infancy when you consider its broad applicability at the point of care and beyond, as Zebra’s healthcare expert Chris Sullivan explains in this video.

Knowing this, we reached out to Dr. Zafar Chaudry, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital to gain a better understanding of the increasing role that mobility is starting to play in medical settings – and how much further healthcare has to go in order to maximize the benefits of such technology.

As you can see from his quite impressive resume, Dr. Chaudry has spent much of his +30-year IT career at the forefront of global healthcare IT, implementing and establishing best practices for unified communications, mobile technologies, electronic health records and healthcare information systems. He served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Cambridge University Hospitals in the United Kingdom, during which time his team implemented the Epic EMR to HIMSS Stage 6 and became the first non-U.S. organization to achieve the U.S. MostWired® Award.

He also served as CIO of Europe’s largest women’s hospital (Liverpool Women’s) and its largest children’s hospital (Alder Hey) before joining Gartner as a global research director for Gartner, which allowed him the unique opportunity to assess emerging technology trends on a global scale at a deeply granular level.

In our 10-minute conversation, he provided his take on hot-button issues such as:

  • The challenges that healthcare organizations are facing right now as it relates to mobility
  • The bring your own device (BYOD) debate including the pros/cons of letting healthcare providers use consumer-grade devices instead of purpose-built clinical smartphones
  • The new ways in which mobility can and should be used in healthcare in the future
  • The paradigm shift that will be required to achieve a unified communications model and facilitate sustainable adoption of mobile technology in healthcare environments

He also shared some best practices that will help you effectively scale your mobility solutions as new applications are needed or healthcare demands evolve. Listen to these exclusive insights now...

PODCAST: Exclusive Interview with Dr. Zafar Chaudry "Mobility in Healthcare"

Have a question for Dr. Chaudry? Email us at blog@zebra.com. You can also reach Zebra’s Healthcare experts here if you’d like to learn more about how clinical mobility solutions can help you improve patient safety, introduce greater efficiencies at the point of care and reduce operational risks/costs.

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Zebra’s “Your Edge” Blog Team
Zebra’s “Your Edge” Blog Team

The “Your Edge” Blog Team is comprised of content curators and editors from Zebra’s Global PR, Thought Leadership and Advocacy team. Our goal is to connect you with the industry experts best-versed on the issues, trends and solutions that impact your business. We will collectively deliver critical news analysis, exclusive insights on the state of your industry, and guidance on how your organization can leverage a number of different proven technology platforms and strategies to capture your edge.