Computers tend to make work extremely easy in almost every job today, be it database functions or automation. The medical industry is no exception. Doctors with computers in their offices can have immediate access to a patient's medical history, current problems, and medications. They also can access the latest information on drug interactions and approaches to certain medical conditions, and they are able to plot a patient's blood pressure or cholesterol profile on a regular basis. What's more, they can automatically receive automated reminders that a patient is due for another kidney function test or mammogram.
Handheld computers are essentially the way to go as far as computers in medicine. Physicians may find that they want to utilize their handhelds for medical purposes as well. Due to the large amounts of information involved in medicine, using handheld computers as a quick reference has perhaps been the most popular application. Computers have been very good at storing large amounts of textual information. The natural extension of this is to provide electronic forms of the reference books that physicians often carry around with them. Patient tracking software is the most ambitious use of handhelds in medicine. .
Computer in many ways bring doctors closer to their patients. Doctors at computerized medical centers do not have to pour through pages of medical charts to find a patient's current medications, allergies, or findings from recent tests. The importance of finding ways to bridge the digital divide between these two worlds is a giant step forward toward improved health care quality.