The Smartphone has become an integral part of our daily lives and we can argue whether for better or worse. But it’s safe to say they’re here to stay.
They enable us to do banking and business from anywhere with a digital connection. We can check on the kids, tell Mom I love you, adjust our schedule, book a flight, sign a document, entertain ourselves, take a picture and communicate with someone on the far side of the world. All of these activities also feed an ever-demanding addiction and dependence.
My purpose here is not to begin a crusade of highlighting the evils of the digital age and how we’re all off to AI hell. Not at all, I acknowledge my dependency may be at times unhealthy, but like many things in life, the good must outweigh the bad.
Like many things that can be addictive, it requires management and constant awareness in our lives. The clinical workspace for me is one of those places where we firmly place our smartphone dependency outside of our patient treatment room.
Time and again I hear patients describe where attending physicians appear so engrossed in their computer screen it detracts from their perceived interest in the person before them. If I arrive before my patient with a cell phone in hand the perception is that I am more concerned with maintaining a connection to the outside world than the patient before me. Worse still, the patient can be left wondering does is he need to google my problem to solve it?
So I hear you say big deal, skip the phone, focus on us! And that we believe is a fair expectation on your behalf. However it’s a two-way street, your physician is human too. Often I am trying to review a history or clarify clinical details and my patient is clutching their phone, distractedly glancing at the screen or texting. No matter how hard I try it has a huge impact on my focus and motivation.
In short to get the best possible result from any medical or for that matter business consultation, put your phone on airplane mode, and in your bag. Don’t know how? iphone or Android. By all means, if you have X-rays, blood test, notes or photographs on your phone, indicate their presence but access the device only when requested.
This demonstrates the value you place upon your health, this meeting and says your desire to get as healthy as quickly as possible is your sole priority and it should be mine too.
To this end the smartphone we attach to our dermatoscopic for magnification and recording skin lesions remains in the back office only to be accessed when absolutely necessary. This avoids any confusion as to its purpose or intention. The computer system and digital camera array required for video gait analysis are housed in a dedicated room only accessed when required.
As always there are exceptions to every rule, “my child is home sick and may call”, “I’m awaiting a call back for my CT scan”. Explain the circumstance in advance, if the other party isn’t sympathetic to a genuine need for phone access then you’re probably in the wrong place to begin with!
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