The use of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) among personnel and students in health care: a review
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Marcial LH. The use of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) among personnel and students in health care: a review. Mobile medical computing reviews. [Online] 2:1
This is a review article summarizing 48 of the 900 papers published on the use of PDAs in healthcare in the period 1996-2008. The authors conducted a "content analysis using Nielsen's Model of System Acceptability" to improve the ability to make interpretations across a fairly heterogeneous group of articles in a broad research area. The results are both informative and helpful suggesting that research in this area has moved beyond the topics of adoption and usability in mostly descriptive analyses to randomized controlled trials of interventions.
Lindquist AM, Johansson PE, Petersson GI, Saveman BI, Nilsson GC. J Med Internet Res. 2008 Oct 28;10(4):e31.
Reviewed by Laura Haak Marcial
This review paper attempts to catalog and interpret studies of PDA use among personnel and students in healthcare and to find commonalities among them.
Research design/methodology
This research involved an initial review of 900 articles. After abstract review and a critical assessment, only 48 articles fit the eligibility and quality criteria for analysis. Commonalities in the research were discovered through content analysis. Though not strong, evidence was found to support the notion that the use of PDAs in health care might improve decision-making, reduce errors, and enhance learning.
Eligibility criteria
Articles were sought that involved analysis of PDA use among healthcare personnel and students. Articles that reported on original research, were peer-reviewed, and met the aim or inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Further articles were required to meet the quality criteria put forth by the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care.
Search methodology
Three separate literature searches were conducted (March to June 2006, May 2007 and May 2008) using PubMed, CINALS, Cochrane, IngentaConnect and ELIN@Kalmar. Search terms were adapted for each database or search engine to optimize results. In addition, references from each of the retrieved articles were reviewed for any additional articles that met the inclusion criteria. Peer-reviewed research articles published between 1996 and 2008 and written in English were included - while review articles and articles on classroom-based PDA use were excluded.
Analysis
Because only a small fraction of the articles were randomized controlled trials (6), most articles presented a qualitative analysis in their results. This review also focused on a qualitative analysis with reporting on demographic information (including location, time, number of participants, and response rates). The review suggests that the bulk of the research centers around five topics: users and situations of use, access to information, social acceptability, practical acceptability, and usefulness and usability. Distinguishing usefulness from usability, the following areas of usability were further detailed: learnability, efficiency, errors, and satisfaction.
Assessment of methodological quality
This study was a complicated undertaking in terms of a review article because the literature is diverse in research approach, intent, and quality. It may have been helpful to categorize the broader collection in more detail though this might not have afforded such a concise result.
Research question
The primary objective of the review was to understand what prior work has been done to help establish a relationship between measures of quality improvement or improved efficiency with the use of PDAs among personnel and students. An assessment of the work done to date and its contributions was also an objective of the study.
Outcome
HIGHLIGHTS: There is significant need for more research on the use of PDAs in healthcare among personnel and students - specifically, intervention studies, randomized controlled trials, and action research.
IMPLICATIONS: The most significant finding is that research done to date does not conclusively support the perceived usefulness of PDAs in healthcare - in terms of improvements in quality or efficiency.
GENERALIZABILITY: As a review article, the results are broadly generalizable.
CONSISTENCY: In terms of the 48 articles reviewed in detail and classified into topic areas, there appeared to be good consistency and a rigorous approach to the review.
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