The travesty of techno-phobic doctors

The medical industry has long been considered a major frontier for information technology growth, a notion reinforced by Intel this week with an array of prototypes for physicians, nurses and administrators. So promising is the business that even foreign companies are moving into the arena, recognizing the logical win-win synergy between what medical professionals need and what computers can provide.

But one thing needs to happen before this technology fulfills its potential: Doctors have to use it--something that, historically, has proven much easier said than done. For some reason, despite all the obvious benefits, many physicians have shown reluctance--sometimes even phobia--toward PCs and PDAs, even though they regularly use some of the world's most sophisticated technological equipment in treating their patients.

And until they get over it, we may all lose out.

Blog community response:

"The idea was to get doctors to use a handheld computer to write prescriptions for patients. The program was also supposed to help doctors avoid drug interaction problems by keeping information about other drugs the patient was using. Â… Many of the doctors ended up using the $500 handhelds to keep their golf scores and girlfriend/boyfriend's numbers."
--In Search of Utopia

"Maybe I should have changed doctors when she still hadn't jumped on the bandwagon of a lovely thing called technology. Maybe the whole 'spending an hour after your appointment time waiting to get called in and then spending another 30 minutes with her' should have made me seek someone new. I guess that just means I'm incredibly loyal...and/or lazy."
--psycho_muppet

"Doctors are always in a hurry. One of the things which slows down our use of PDAs is the input. I know some of my colleagues have been in the initial stages but I can assure you after a bit of practice, you'll improve in time."
--Palmdoc Chronicles

"A study published in a journal called BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making indicates that handheld communicators helped surgeons at a London hospital respond to calls more quickly than they did with pagers. The study also indicated that communication between clinicians was improved."
--Operation Gadget