Physician Perceptions of Surveillance: Wearables, Apps, and Bots for COVID-19

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the global physician community's opinions on the use of digital tools for COVID-19 public health surveillance and self-surveillance. Methods: Cross-sectional, random, stratified survey done on Sermo, a physician networking platform, between September 9-15, 2020. We aimed to sample 1,000 physicians divided among the USA, EU, and rest of the world. The survey questioned physicians on the risk-benefit ratio of digital tools, as well as matters of data privacy and trust. Results: The survey was completed by 1004 physicians with a mean (SD) age of 49.14 (12) years. Enthusiasm was highest for self-monitoring smart watches (66%) and contact tracing apps (66%) and slightly lower (48-56%) for other tools. Trust was highest for health providers (68%) and lowest for technology companies (30%). Most respondents (69.8%) felt that loosening privacy standards to fight the pandemic would lead to misuse of privacy in the future. Conclusion: The survey provides foundational insights about how physicians think of surveillance. Collaborations between public health and technology researchers to strengthen evidence of effectiveness and build public trust may be useful.