Bring your device in the hospital: a qualitative study

Abstract

Introduction: The Bring Your Device (BYOD) approach has promoted the use of personal mobile devices to achieve organizational and occupational goals, but the use of this approach can bring various challenges and risks for health organizations. This research was conducted to identify the components of hospitals' readiness to use BYOD which can be used to develop appropriate policies and ultimately control related challenges. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, participants were selected using purposeful sampling with a snowball approach till reaching saturation point. For data gathering, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 experts in the BYOD field. Qualitative data were analyzed with the thematic analysis method and using MAXQDA Plus version 12 (Release 12.3.0, VERBI GmbH Berlin). Results: 6 main themes and 23 sub-themes were identified. The main themes include management principles, human resources, cost, technical infrastructure, legal considerations, and ethical considerations that play critical roles in hospitals' readiness for BYOD. Conclusion: Focusing on the issues identified in the form of formulating and implementing official programs as well as appropriate policies by the managers and stakeholders of the organizations can properly benefit from the advantages of BYOD and reduce the related challenges as much as possible. © 2023, Semnan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.