Doctors are More Likely to Use Tablets Over Smartphones to Read Articles from Medical Publications

by Jaime Brewster

One in in four doctors uses a tablet to reference drug data and three in ten use the devices to research general medical issues or specific clinical situations, according to the Sources & Interactions Study, September 2014: Medical/Surgical Edition.

Furthermore, tablets are used by 53% of physicians for professional purposes, according to current wave data from the study. Slightly less than half (49%) of physicians use both a smartphone and a tablet for professional purposes, while 32% use a smartphone only for work reasons and 4% use a tablet only.

Overall, more doctors are using smartphones for professional purposes than tablets, but there are certain tasks that they are more likely to perform on a tablet. For example, 29% of doctors use a tablet to read articles from medical publications while only 22% use a smartphone. 20% of physicians use tablets to watch medically-oriented videos and only 13% use a smartphone.

The Sources & Interactions™ Study is a detailed examination of doctors’ online and mobile activities, e-detailing experience, and exposure to (and evaluation of) information sources including traditional and emerging media, pharma reps, CME, convention and more. The study is conducted every six months and targets more than 3,000 physicians annually across 22 specialties, exploring their media preferences and habits. Sources & Interactions was designed to help marketers and their agencies cost-effectively allocate resources to their overall promotional mix, and provide publishers with specific insight about where their offerings fit into physicians (and other healthcare professionals’) information inventory.

To find out more about the study and get access to specialty-specific data, contact us now. We study physician media behaviors and preferences annually across 22 specialties.