Healthcare workers' and managers' uses of mobile phone messaging applications (apps) in their daily work in South Africa: a survey.

Simon Lewin, Janan Janine Dietrich, Mamakiri Mulaudzi, Tondani Mudau, Lerato Tsotetsi, Tanya Doherty

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Oxford open digital health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Simon LewinDepartment of Health Sciences Ålesund, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Larsgårdsvegen 2, Ålesund, 6009, Norway.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7521-9515

Janan Janine DietrichHealth Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research (SAMRC), Francie van Zijl Drive, Parrowvallei, Cape Town, 7503, South Africa.

Mamakiri MulaudziDepartment of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001, South Africa.

Tondani MudauHealth Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research (SAMRC), Francie van Zijl Drive, Parrowvallei, Cape Town, 7503, South Africa.

Lerato TsotetsiAfrican Social Sciences Unit of Research and Evaluation (ASSURE), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001, South Africa.

Tanya DohertyHealth Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research (SAMRC), Francie van Zijl Drive, Parrowvallei, Cape Town, 7503, South Africa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies are important for supporting health service delivery and enhancing workforce performance in low- and middle-income countries. Alongside mHealth technologies endorsed by Departments of Health, healthcare workers are using messaging applications (apps), such as WhatsApp, informally on their personal mobile phones to fulfil work tasks. Our objective was to explore the use of mobile phone messaging apps for daily work among healthcare workers and managers in South Africa. We conducted a cross-sectional anonymous online survey with public and private sector healthcare workers, recruited via the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority database from February 2022 to May 2022. A total of 2174 healthcare workers participated and data were analysed using Stata SE. Most participants were female (73.8%), Caucasian (70.4%), English-speaking (53.7%), and had a postgraduate degree (58%). Over two-thirds of participants (67.5%) worked in the private sector, 81.4% were urban-based and doctors were the largest group (35%). Most participants (90%) reported using a messaging app for work-related communication, mostly WhatsApp (84%). Participants reported using messaging apps for contacting colleagues (52.1%), patient referrals (50.6%) and clinical management information (47.5%). Apps were also used for sharing appointment times and reminders (44.7%) with patients. App use across the public and private sectors and healthcare facility types was similar. Most healthcare workers (79.3%) did not receive a mobile phone data allowance. The survey shows that informal use of messaging apps by healthcare workers in South Africa is widespread and needs to be considered in digital health strategies.

Indexed as

communicationhealthcare workersinformalmessaging applicationsmobile phoneSouth Africasurvey

Identifiers

PMID41797889

DOI10.1093/oodh/oqag005

PMCPMC12962228

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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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 Socratic graph.