Source: Enspektos

A recent survey conducted by digital health communications firm Enspektos found that physicians are more likely than nurses to find medical information in mobile apps credible. Of the more than 100 physicians surveyed, about 70 percent said that mobile apps were a very credible or highly credible, while only about 46 percent of the 100 nurses surveyed were as trusting. Interestingly, while a greater percentage (76 percent) of physicians said the same for medical websites, the gap was smaller for this channel, which 69 percent of nurses said was very credible or highly credible.

Pharmacists fell in the middle. Of the 100 pharmacists surveyed, 61 percent said mobile apps were very or highly credible sources of medical information, while 71 percent said the same for medical websites.

The survey also found that about 85 percent of each group leveraged medical websites frequently or very frequently for health information. Only 55 percent of physicians said they used mobile frequently or very frequently, and that dropped to 34 percent of nurses. About half of those pharmacists polled said they frequently or very frequently use mobile apps for information.

Enspektos frames the poll as one that gets at the differences between perception and reality when it comes to digital sources for healthcare providers. It's curious that the physicians view mobile medical content as less credible than websites, especially since most popular websites now have mobile versions or apps that provide medical reference information. Small survey but interesting fodder.

More metrics can be found in Enspektos' infographic here.