Physician adds Smartphone to Medical Tools to gather patient info

...[Dr. Paul] Abramson is on the vanguard of the emerging digital revolution in medicine. Beyond consumer-driven apps that count calories or encourage exercise, mobile technology is beginning to significantly change how doctors practice medicine.

"We're at a very interesting intersection of technology impacting clinical care, which hasn't really changed dramatically in 50 or 60 years," said Dr. Michael Blum, director of the Center for Digital Health Innovation at UCSF. "When we look back in 10 years, we're going to be amazed how far we've gone."

The ubiquity of smartphones has already had an effect on clinical practice in numerous obvious ways. Doctors can speedily access important information such as drug dosage recommendations or disease profiles as well as a patient's medical information. They can also more easily communicate about patients with specialists or other colleagues.