One of the most exciting potentials for this emerging technology is to find ways for embedding medical decision support in physicians’ workflow. “We know that the barriers to physicians routinely consulting decision support applications are high,” Dr. Cucina says.
For Dr. Deruelle, who had to look outside of hospital channels to answer his question about a dystonic patient, medicine has a serious information gap. “I believe we will move to where the technology will put that information at my fingertips,” he says. “Why aren’t we there yet? Not enough people are using the technology, and we don’t agree on what information should be included. But I think we can start with basic things and work up from there. What excites me is that we’re closing the information gap—although medicine is still in the Stone Age compared with other professions.” TH
Larry Beresford is a frequent contributor to The Hospitalist.