Medicine in the information age: use of Personal Digital Assistants in a Ghanaian hospital

Introduction : Many doctors use Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) in their personal lives, but a few of them are integrating these devices into their clinical practice. Studies in different countries have explored the extent to which medical practitioners use PDAs, but little work has been done on this subject in Ghana. Methodology : This was a cross-sectional study, sampling a total of 103 participants (67 medical students and 36 house officers) from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Accra, Ghana. A custom-designed anonymous questionnaire with 31 questions was developed to assess the trend of PDA use. Results : 65.7% of medical students and 72.2% of house officers in KBTH owned PDAs. 40.9% of medicals students and 42.3% of house officers, use their PDAs before, during or after patient encounters. 61.5% of house officers and 40.9% of medical students indicated that their use of PDAs influence their clinical decision making and 69.2% of house officers and 15.9% of medical students indicated that their use of PDAs helped them avoid drug interactions when prescribing for patients. Analysis tests revealed no relationships between age group, gender and level of IT knowledge with PDA use. Conclusion : Results of this study showed that most medical students and house officers in KBTH used PDAs which made an impact on clinical decision making and patient treatment.