Managing Apple devices in healthcare
An iPad or iPhone used in patient care has to fit the way nurses and doctors work, and it has to keep patient information away from anyone who shouldn't see it. You only know it does both once you've tested sign-in, handover, Wi-Fi and what happens when a device fails, together with the staff who use it.
In short
- Check that each person signs in to the clinical app as themselves and that the audit trail shows who opened which record.
- At every handover, test that the next person can't open the previous person's patient records.
- Agree how devices are cleaned and what staff do when the system is down, and keep a tested spare device ready.
Start with the clinical workflow
Before you change any settings, write down where each device is used, who picks it up and which patient records it opens. Think of bedside work, consultations and ward rounds, and of visits to patients at home if your staff make them. These answers shape how people sign in and how a device passes from one person to the next. Also find out who owns the clinical app and which team supports it. You'll need both of them when you test.
If the current setup works for staff, keep it. When you move to a new setup, separate the changes the migration needs from the improvements that can wait. If you change both at once and something breaks on a ward, you'll find it harder to tell which change caused it. Plan the test dates with the clinical team so testing fits around patient care.
Separate device access from patient-record access
Enrolling a device and setting a passcode doesn't tell the clinical app who is using it. That check happens inside the app, so test it there. Each person should sign in with their own account, see only what their role allows and be signed out when their session times out. Then go through the audit trail with the system owner and confirm that it records each person's actions.
Avoid a shared login wherever you need to trace an action back to one person. With one account for the whole ward, the audit trail can't tell one nurse from another. Also check where patient data can turn up outside the record itself: notifications, screenshots, downloaded files and records the app keeps in its cache.
Make the handover safe
Pick a way of sharing that both your apps and the Apple platform support. On iPad, Shared iPad has named sessions and temporary sessions. The two behave differently, so check which one your apps work with. iPhone has no Shared iPad mode. A shared iPhone needs session controls inside the apps, or an erase and reprovisioning workflow that you've verified.
Test the handover with two people. The first signs in and opens a few patient records. After the handover, the second person must not be able to reopen any of them. Then repeat it for the awkward cases: someone is called away halfway through signing out, the connection drops, or a device is left unattended.
Plan for cleaning and downtime
Follow the cleaning instructions for the device and for the cleaning product you use. Choose cases, chargers and a fixed place for each device together with the clinical team, because they handle the devices during their shifts. MDM can't prove that a device has been physically cleaned.
Walk the building with a device to test Wi-Fi roaming, and check what the clinical app does when it loses the connection. Keep a written downtime procedure and a spare device you've already tested, so staff can carry on when something fails. Before an update goes to every device, test it with your clinical apps and with any peripherals staff connect to the devices.
Know which data rules apply
Establish who the data controller is, which processors handle the data and which jurisdiction's law applies. Health data needs careful access control and a risk assessment. Decide how long data is kept, how you respond to an incident and what each supplier is responsible for.
Our Swiss and EU compliance guide explains who the rules cover and when a breach has to be reported. Technical controls help you comply. Choosing a platform doesn't make you compliant by itself.
Sources
Your clinical and IT teams run these tests, and we can help them. First, tell us which devices and clinical apps you use.
Get new articles by email
Related articles
Choosing a sharing model for iPad
Shared iPad lets several people use one iPad, each in a separate session. It runs only on supported, supervised iPads. Whether you choose named or temporary sessions depends on the apps your staff use and the data they need to keep.
Managing shared iPhones between staff
iPad has Shared iPad, which gives each person their own session on the device. iPhone has nothing like it. To pass an iPhone from one person to the next, you either sign them out of every app or erase the phone and set it up again. Whichever you choose, test the whole handover before staff depend on it.
Apple device security under Swiss and EU data protection law
An MDM can turn on FileVault, require a passcode and record the state of your Macs, iPhones and iPads. Those settings and records help with data protection. Which legal duties you have, though, depends on the personal data you process and the risks that come with it.
