New York Times Looks At Use of Handhelds in Hospitals
The New York Times today reports on the use of handheld computers in hospitals, which can offer doctors easier access to medical and drug reference books, allow patient information to be stored on remotely accessed servers, expedite health insurance claims and provide prescription writing tools, including automatic drug interaction referencing. Dr. Edward Shortliffe, chair of Columbia University's department of medical informatics, said that while other attempts to bring computers to hospitals were greeted with suspicion, "There's a climate for change right now." According to a Harris Interactive poll, approximately 17% of U.S. doctors use a handheld computer in some capacity (Austen, New York Times, 8/22). The complete article is available online.
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