ArticlePloS one2019
WhatsApp in hospital? An empirical investigation of individual and organizational determinants to use.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed.
- WhatsApp-Delivered Intervention for Continued Learning for Nurses in Pakistan During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a Randomized-Controlled Trial.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Adoption and Use of Social Media in Health Care Among Medical Residents: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- When practice outpaces policy: Whatsapp use among nursing and medical staff in Israeli hospitals.Israel journal of health policy research · 2026Article
- Article
- Nursing personnel and speech-language therapists communication practices in dysphagia management.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir Kommunikasieafwykings · 2025Article
- Article
- Towards 'Formalising' WhatsApp Teledermatology Practice in KZ-N District Hospitals: Key Informant Interviews.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Being a 'Teams' player: a quality improvement project expanding the role of Microsoft Teams to improve communication and efficiency of junior doctors in a ward-based hospital setting.Future healthcare journal · 2023Article
- Smart Phone Chat Apps for Teaching and Assessment in Orthopaedic Residency Training.Malaysian orthopaedic journal · 2023Article
- The role of messaging services in day-to-day practice in pediatric neurosurgery, advantages of a bubble network, and an international survey.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2023Article
- Interprofessional actions in responsible discharge: contributions to transition and continuity of care.Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P · 2023Article
- Message applications in the doctor-patient relationship as a stressor.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2022Article
- WhatsApp and Gynecologist-Patient Interaction: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess the Stress Perceived by the Doctor.Revista brasileira de ginecologia e obstetricia : revista da Federacao Brasileira das Sociedades de Ginecologia e Obstetricia · 2022Observational
- Article
- Social Media and Health Care (Part II): Narrative Review of Social Media Use by Patients.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Review
- Digital implications for human resource management in surgical departments.European surgery : ACA : Acta chirurgica Austriaca · 2022Review
- Surgery remember@: an innovation to reduce surgical cancellations.Revista do Colegio Brasileiro de Cirurgioes · 2022Article
- Translation and validation of the techno-stress questionnaire in Brazil.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2022Article
- WhatsApp in Clinical Practice-The Challenges of Record Keeping and Storage. A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Integration of mHealth Information and Communication Technologies Into the Clinical Settings of Hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa: Qualitative Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The increasing use of messaging applications such as WhatsApp for both social and personal purposes has determined an increase in the widespread use of these technologies, even in healthcare. A growing number of healthcare professionals have adopted WhatsApp in their daily work in order to share information with peers and patients. Past research has highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of WhatsApp usage in healthcare settings; in particular two positions appear to coexist in the scientific debate: those that expose and underline all of the positive aspects of the phenomenon, and those which also highlight the negative aspects, linked in particular to the clinical risks for patients, data security and privacy protection. The main objective of this study was to assess if and how individual and organizational determinants can trigger or inhibit the use of WhatsApp in a hospital setting, and which variables managers can exploit to guide professionals' behaviors. Data were collected through a survey administered to physicians and nurses in an Italian University Hospital in Rome; a total of 191 high-quality responses were received. The results show that WhatsApp is widely used in the Hospital, and that its use is mainly due to the perception of numerous advantages and benefits reported in clinical practice. Moreover, an interplay exists between organizational and individual factors in determining the use of WhatsApp between healthcare professionals and with patients. In particular, individual factors play a key role as determinants of the use of WhatsApp; healthcare professionals use this technology mainly based on its perceived usefulness. Instead, organizational factors play a secondary role; they do not have a direct influence on the use of WhatsApp, but always act through individual factors. This study is the first to analyses the influence of individual and organizational determinants of WhatsApp usage in the hospital setting, and provides hospital managers with important information in order to manage this phenomenon and implement adequate strategies to exploit its potential increase.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.