This is my first blog entry in this format. It seems fitting to comment on Computers and Medicine. I have alot to say on the topic . Most of which would bore humanity.
Dr Kevin has a nice piece in USA today about Electronic medical records.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/10/why-doctors-sti.html
I often hear politicians discuss this as the salvation of the rising cost of health care.
When I caught the News coverage in the last week reporting on the Economic bailout bill. All I heard was back and forth about one side not knowing the other sides intentions or plan. What are all those computer screens and blackberries for? I guess not for text messaging....
The difference is that those devices are paid for by the taxpayer. A physician in private practice has to foot the bill for a system that in reality maybe obsolete in a year.
The only solution that I see to be the most painless is a search engine based intranet. That is open source, and available to everyone. Much like Firefox browser software.
There is more to the problem than just paying for a system, if no one else uses the same system it will not derive the patient care benefits and time saving abilities of say the Star Trek Voyager hologram doctor.