Patient safety concerns drive this medical center to ban Pokémon GO: 5 insights

Practice Management

Pokémon GO has taken this summer by storm and many applaud the mobile game for promoting physical activity. However, one medical center is fighting to remove the app from all its locations as people are flocking to the centers' grounds to catch Pokémon, thereby compromising patient safety, according to Health Leaders Media.

Her are five insights:

 

1. Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network, a division of Highmark Health, sent a request to Pokémon GO's manufacturer, Niantic, asking the company to remove all its locations from the app.

 

2. In a memo to AHN employees, the medical center said the clinics are public places where players can freely catch the Pokemon, which the memo stated "compromises physical safety, patient privacy, computer security and personal safety."

 

3. The memo advises employees take a special note of people on their phones, unaware of their surroundings. The memo instructs employees to tell players unauthorized photography is banned on AHN premises.

 

4. Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital also recently asked their employees to not use the app at work.

 

5. American Hospital Association asked Niantic to remove all its locations from the app.

 

More articles on practice management:
4 ways healthcare reform benefits private practice
Healthcare jobs jump 43k in July, on track to keep growing: 6 key notes
Technology boom expected to transform healthcare market by 2021 — 5 thoughts

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Webinars

Featured Podcast

Featured Whitepapers