Gus Malezis is the President & CEO of Imprivata, the digital identity company for life- and mission-critical industries.
Mobile devices are revolutionizing the way healthcare is delivered. With the right mobile strategy, clinicians can access patient records, monitor vitals and communicate with team members and patients from any place, at any time—even directly from the patient’s bedside. This can lead to immense benefits, such as improved patient and family satisfaction, increased communication between staff and better quality of care. Relying more on mobile devices allows clinicians to spend less time accessing information and documenting at a workstation and more quality time with patients.
However, mobile technology in its off-the-shelf incarnation can be ineffective or even hinder the progress of care without the appropriate clinical access, usability, security and compliance functions. For mobile initiatives to be successful, a holistic mobile strategy must be established, with the focus being on the provider, the associated workflows and ease of use. As healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) grapple with these challenges, the use of digital identity solutions is becoming an increasingly common and powerful approach, especially as organizations cope with resource constraints.
For both clinicians and IT professionals, an identity-first mobile strategy can save a significant amount of time by reducing or eliminating tedious tasks that contribute to burnout. Whether a clinician is accessing the electronic health record (EHR) or an IT admin is managing shared devices, a mobile strategy can help HDOs ensure both security and convenience while simultaneously improving efficiency and patient care.
Mobile Technology’s Role In Alleviating Burnout
Healthcare workers have an immense workload that continues to grow. When a provider’s attention is diverted away from a patient, the care the patient receives is affected. Too often, technology is the cause of this distraction. In a 2023 AMN survey, about 94% of nurses reported that there’s a moderate to severe staff shortage in their area, with over 60% saying they don’t have ideal time to spend with patients. Healthcare organizations are still experiencing an influx of patients from the pandemic. The nursing shortage only adds to clinician workloads. To address growing care delivery needs and safely care for patients, clinicians should consider seamless, efficient and secure mobile technology.
To meet this need for mobility, healthcare organizations are adopting shared mobile devices for their staff. Investing in shared devices is often more cost-effective than purchasing a different device for each user. However, if not properly enabled, users can experience significant security friction.
Imagine a typical scenario in which a clinician begins their hospital shift. Before checking on a patient, they read through the patient’s chart and familiarize themselves with the patient’s history. Upon observation, the clinician notices an elevated temperature and new rash. They take note of the rash but must exit the patient room, seek out an available workstation to document the observation, notify the physician on duty and request meds—taking the clinician away from the patient and delaying the time it takes to provide care. During the process of locating a workstation, it’s not unusual for another patient situation to arise, demanding the clinician’s attention. Of course, this disrupts the process with the first patient. The clinician may not return to the patient until minutes or hours later after all interruptions are resolved. This inability to promptly and efficiently document observations creates added pressure for an already burdened provider.
Instead, consider if the HDO had another strategy: With an enterprise mobile device in hand, the clinician could have remained at the patient’s bedside throughout their entire visit, with immediate visibility into patient information and access to others on the care team. Mobile devices can make a notable difference in giving clinicians more time to spend with patients but only if they’re properly configured to enable productivity and security.
Navigating Cyber Threats With An Identity-First Mobile Strategy
Inadequate mobile device security broadens healthcare’s attack surface and increases the chances of a breach or cyber incident. This year alone, the protected health information (PHI) of more than 71.4 million individuals has been compromised, making 2023 one of the worst years for healthcare data breaches.
With more devices connecting to the network and being shared across the workforce, HDOs often rely on clinicians to log in and out of devices and all applications between uses. But considering how busy healthcare workers get, this doesn’t always happen. The more steps a clinician has to take to utilize technology, the less likely they are to adopt it into their workflow. In turn, shared devices are underutilized, difficult to manage and can even introduce security risks to the organization like credential sharing or device loss.
When it comes to using and securing shared mobile devices, it’s essential to extend your identity and access management (IAM) strategy to include devices. It’s important to configure shared devices for effectiveness and convenience while ensuring that all safety, security and compliance requirements are met. When multiple shared mobile devices are used within an HDO, it’s vital to monitor their whereabouts and utilization. Handling PHI is sensitive, so ensuring it’s secure on mobile devices is extremely important.
IAM technologies can allow HDOs to store all shared devices in a docking station. When a clinician needs a phone, they simply authenticate to check it out. Within seconds, a mobile device can be fully provisioned based on the clinician’s access needs and preferences. This workflow is seamless for the clinician, saving time. When returning the device, integrated technologies governed by digital identity automatically deprovision devices after use. This completely wipes the device and removes user credentials in between uses. This ensures security and privacy by preventing the next user from accessing any sensitive PHI that was previously viewed on the phone. IT administrators can also leverage comprehensive reporting to monitor, track and manage devices from the cloud.
In healthcare, patient safety is always the top priority. The presence of mobile devices in healthcare will likely expand in the future. With an identity-first approach, mobile devices can improve clinician and patient experiences by reducing burnout and streamlining care, all while helping ensure security, usability and compliance.
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