Mobile Computing is not Always Advantageous: Lessons Learned from a Real-World Case Study in a Hospital

The use of mobile computing is expanding dramatically in recent years and trends indicate that "the future is mobile". Nowadays, mobile computing plays an increasingly important role in the biomedical domain, and particularly in hospitals. The benefits of using mobile devices in hospitals are no longer disputed and many applications for medical care are already available. Many studies have proven that mobile technologies can bring various benefits for enhancing information management in the hospital. But is mobility a solution for every problem? In this paper, we will demonstrate that mobility is not always an advantage. On the basis of a field study at the pediatric surgery of a large University Hospital, we have learned within a two-year long mobile computing project, that mobile devices have indeed many disadvantages, particularly in stressful and hectic situations and we conclude that mobile computing is not always advantageous.