A framework for the adoption of bring your own device (BYOD) in the hospital environment

The ongoing reform efforts and an aftermath of increasing regulation in the Swiss healthcare sector make it imperative for hospitals to develop strategies to work more efficiently and have better control over their medical, nursing, and administrative processes. In recent years, the perception, usage and efficacy of mobile devices and related services have changed. Related technologies have become potential drivers for new businesses, increased productivity, higher employee satisfaction and lower costs in IT procurement and maintenance. These endeavors make hospitals to enhance and integrate the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in their IT environment. This work proposes a novel method for the introduction of mobile strategies with respect to closely-meshed organizational and social structures within hospitals. One key contribution of this method is its hybrid approach to combine collective know-how of existing BYOD frameworks with an iterative process model approach. The application of this BYOD framework under real-world conditions within different Swiss hospitals has led to a positive outcome whereby all hospitals concurred that the method allows for the adoption of BYOD principles while taking into consideration the individual styles and patterns of behavior. Keywords—healthcare, method, BYOD, EMM, framework