title: How Consumers and Physicians View New Medical Technology: Comparative Survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As a result of the digital revolution coming to medicine, a number of new tools are becoming available and are starting to be introduced in clinical practice.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aim to assess health care professional and consumer attitudes toward new medical technology including smartphones, genetic testing, privacy, and patient-accessible electronic health records.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a survey with 1406 health care providers and 1102 consumer responders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consumers who completed the survey were more likely to prefer new technologies for a medical diagnosis (437/1102, 39.66%) compared with providers (194/1406, 13.80%; P<.001), with more providers (393/1406, 27.95%) than consumers (175/1102, 15.88%) reporting feeling uneasy about using technology for a diagnosis. Both providers and consumers supported genetic testing for various purposes, with providers (1234/1406, 87.77%) being significantly more likely than consumers (806/1102, 73.14%) to support genetic testing when planning to have a baby (P<.001). Similarly, 91.68% (1289/1406) of providers and 81.22% (895/1102) of consumers supported diagnosing problems in a fetus (P<.001). Among providers, 90.33% (1270/1406) were concerned that patients would experience anxiety after accessing health records, and 81.95% (1149/1406) felt it would lead to requests for unnecessary medical evaluations, but only 34.30% (378/1102; P<.001) and 24.59% (271/1102; P<.001) of consumers expressed the same concerns, respectively. Physicians (137/827, 16.6%) reported less concern about the use of technology for diagnosis compared to medical students (21/235, 8.9%; P=.03) and also more frequently felt that patients owned their medical record (323/827, 39.1%; and 30/235, 12.8%, respectively; P<.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consumers and health professionals differ significantly and broadly in their views of emerging medical technology, with more enthusiasm and support expressed by consumers.
authors.affiliation: Scripps Translational Science Institute, Scripps Health, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6127-592X
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Boeldt
authors.forename: Nathan E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4517-228X
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Wineinger
authors.forename: Jill
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4772-9635
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waalen
authors.forename: Shreya
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2204-6934
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gollamudi
authors.forename: Adam
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6034-1187
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grossberg
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9256-7914
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Steinhubl
authors.forename: Anna
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8615-6430
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCollister-Slipp
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2103-2389
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Carey
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8786-5482
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silvers
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1478-4729
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Topol
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine
keywords: digital revolution; electronic health record; healthcare; medical technology; mobile health; physician and consumer attitudes