Abstract

The mobile medical information system investigated in the study is developed for mobilizing medical information and knowledge and for matching physicians’ multiple needs, including mobility, reliability and time efficiency. This paper is set to investigate physicians’ perceptions, intentions and actual use regarding the system in a pilot trial conducted in the Finnish health care sector started from April to September 2003. The results from this empirical survey (N=500, returned N=379) indicate that physicians have rather positive perceptions of the system and future intentions to use it in their work practice. Mobile evidence-based medical guidelines-EBMG and mobile textbooks were the most favourite information sources that physicians might use through a mobile device. Mostly, they would search information about certain treatments, drugs and diseases. Mobile EBMG, Pharmaca Fennica and ICD-10 were their most wanted mobile information contents in the system. The physicians were highly motivated to use mobile Internet in order to access the Internet-based EBMG as well as the Finnish Internet medical portal— Terveysportti. Mobile prescription also gained a high probability for being adopted. Individual differences do matter physicians’ perceptional assessments and future intentions to use the system. These findings indicate some potential to mobilize “personalized” medical information and knowledge in order to create knowledge freedom to physicians by taking full advantage of mobile technologies. Mobile prescription might be a step further towards mobilizing medical information but with political difficulty. Implications for future system improvement are discussed briefly.

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