IN a study that holds little surprise to me (declaration I own no Apple stock and am not linked to them in any way aside from being a user): Doctors Choose iPhone over BlackBerry. While there may be much wrong with Apple product they get one very important aspect right – usability. I’ve said it before and again referring to my mother and the ease with which she adopted an Apple MacBook and an iPhone.
“Physician smartphone adoption is occurring more rapidly than with members of the general public,” said Gregg Malkary, managing director at Spyglass. Moreover, Malkary added, “Physicians are showing a clear preference [almost double] for using the Apple iPhone (44 percent) over the RIM BlackBerry (25 percent).”
It’s because Apple focused on ease of use. You can pick up the iPhone (and iPad) and use it – the instruction manual (to my mothers frustration) is only a few pages long and contains only the most basic of instruction and is easily absorbed in a few minutes
There is much to dislike (or perhaps be envious of) in the Apple world. THey control too much and limit people in ways that can irritate even frustrate. Bu really……ease of use is an essential prerequisite for technology adoption and this is true for Meaningful Use, EHR’s, EMR’s, diagnostic systems, evidence based medicine. If it is too complicated or intrusive it will struggle to gain acceptance and adoption.
