Sixty percent of physicians in the US sent work-related text messages on their personal phones and 61 percent received them, according to a recent study of 97 pediatric hospitalists published in Telemedicine and e-Health. Only 11 percent of these hospitalists said their organization offered a secure texting service, but 58 percent weren't sure.

Researchers distributed the survey anonymously through the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on the hospital medicine listserv, which had over 2,000 physicians participants in February 2012.

Only 12 percent of physicians sent and received work-related text messages more than 10 times per shift, but 53 percent of physicians texted about work-related matters while not on duty. Sixty eight percent of hospitalists texted other pediatric hospitalists, 37 percent sent texts to fellows or residents, and 28 percent were sent to consulting physicians.

Less than half of all respondents, 46 percent, reported having concerns about protecting patient privacy and text messages, and 30 percent reported that they received protected health information in a text message.

Twenty-eight percent of physicians preferred text messages as a method of communication for brief conversation and 26 percent preferred pagers. Still, almost half of physicians, 47 percent, said pagers were becoming obsolete.

Many health plans and care providers use text messages to engage their populations and patients, but the number of secure messaging platforms for physician-to-physician communications is also growing steadily.