Third-year medical students’ knowledge of privacy and security issues concerning mobile devices

Abstract

Background: The use of mobile devices are ubiquitous in medical-care professional settings, but information on privacy and security concerns of mobile devices for medical students is scarce. Aims: To gain baseline information about third-year medical students' mobile device use and knowledge of privacy and security issues concerning mobile devices. Methods: We surveyed 67 third-year medical students at a Midwestern university on their use of mobile devices and knowledge of how to protect information available through mobile devices. Students were also presented with clinical scenarios to rate their level of concern in regards to privacy and security of information. Results: The most used features of mobile devices were: voice-to-voice (100%), text messaging (SMS) (94%), Internet (76.9%), and email (69.3%). For locking of one's personal mobile phone, 54.1% never physically lock their phone, and 58% never electronically lock their personal PDA. Scenarios considering definitely privacy concerns include emailing patient information intact (66.7%), and posting de-identified information on YouTube (45.2%) or Facebook (42.2%). Conclusions: As the ease of sharing data increases with the use of mobile devices, students need more education and training on possible privacy and security risks posed with mobile devices.

Privacy and Security in Mobile Health Apps: A Review and Recommendations

“…According to a recent survey from Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMMS) [25], clinician use of mobile technology to collect data at the bedside rose to 45 %, up from 30 % last year, and 93 % of clinicians already use their personal smartphone to access EHR, but only 38 % did so under a formal mobile policy. The reality is that physicians and medicine students are unaware of the privacy and security aspects of the mobile applications that they use in their daily activity, as shows the study performed by Whipple et al (2012). Such study concludes that some education in these issues is necessary because the knowledge about them is very low [26].…”

“…The reality is that physicians and medicine students are unaware of the privacy and security aspects of the mobile applications that they use in their daily activity, as shows the study performed by Whipple et al (2012). Such study concludes that some education in these issues is necessary because the knowledge about them is very low [26]. Not only the physicians must know about security, but also the health care organizations that have readily accepted the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) approach because of the convenience and potential cost savings associated with allowing employees to bring their own devices to work [27,28].…”

End User Licence to Open Government Data? A Simulated Penetration Attack on Two Social Survey Datasets

“…Recent studies verify that behaviour in social networking site use is changing and individuals are being encouraged to protect their privacy from different sources (see, for example Moreno et al (2012) and Whipple et al (2012)). This clearly inhibits intruders gathering information in this way.…”

Library Support of Mobile Resources During Clinical Clerkships

“…6 Some authors have called for more study on issues related to privacy and professionalism. 7 Overall, few studies focus on either pedagogy or learning outcomes for medical students in a clinical setting and even fewer have sought to measure whether mobile resources usage contributes to improved patient outcomes. 8 …”