Approximately 75% of U.S. physicians own some form of Apple device, such as an iPhone, iPad or iPod, according to the new Taking the Pulse U.S. v11.0 study from pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research.

This year’s study of physician digital adoption trends includes a focus on the iPad and other tablets, professional activities across multiple screens, electronic health records and online patient-physician communication. The iPhone surged to dominate the physician smartphone market in 2011 as the number one smartphone platform used by physicians in the U.S.

“Despite the success of the Android platform in the overall consumer market, physicians are flocking to the iPhone as their smartphone of choice,” says Meredith Ressi, president of Manhattan Research.

Smartphone penetration among physicians exceeded Manhattan Research analysts’ previous forecasts to reach 81% this year. Just one year after the iPad first hit the market, adoption has reached 30% of U.S. physicians and an additional 28% plan to purchase an iPad within the next six months.

“Physicians’ response to the iPad has been overwhelmingly positive, especially for use in the practice setting,” Ressi says. “Physicians also express strong interest in being able to access electronic medical records through the iPad -- as more EMR providers offer this ability, iPad accessibility may be a deciding factor for some practices when selecting an EMR provider.”

Manhattan Research is currently fielding a second study to examine physicians’ impressions of pharmaceutical sales reps and medical device reps using iPads during their in-office details. ePharma Physician v11.0 and Digital MedTech Physician studies will be released in the summer of 2011.

Taking the Pulse U.S. is Manhattan Research’s annual market research study and syndicated advisory service focused on how U.S. physicians use the Internet, digital media, mobile devices and other technologies for professional purposes and patient interaction. Taking the Pulse U.S. v11.0 was fielded online and on the phone among 2,041 U.S. practicing physicians in the first quarter of 2011. The data can be segmented across a variety of target specialist audiences, including PCPs, pediatricians, cardiologists, oncologists, gastroenterologists and OB/GYNs. For more information, go to http://www.manhattanresearch.com/ttp .