Adoption of Mobile E-Health Service: A Professional Medical SMS News Service in Finland

Abstract

This study investigates physicians’ willingness to adopt a professional medical SMS news service in the Finnish healthcare sector. A concise survey using SMS mobile technology was conducted on March 5, 2003. Two hundred and fifty-nine out of 685 responded within 24 hours, and 90% of these answers were received within 6 hours after the survey was sent out. The response rate was 38%. Findings from this simple SMS survey showed that physicians had positive perceptions of the SMS news service. Nearly 60% of the respondents have used it. Some of the answers included spontaneous feedback about the SMS news service, which revealed valuable comments and suggestions regarding further improvements to it. The SMS survey as a new data collection technique needs academic attention. Implications and future research are briefly discussed.