Physicians and med students continue to embrace smartphones

This isn't necessarily news for people in healthcare, but the mainstream media are picking up on the fact that so many physicians and medical students consider their iPhones, BlackBerrys and other smartphones essential equipment in making diagnoses and treating patients. The Washington Post cites a Manhattan Research study suggesting that 64 percent of physicians use a smartphone of one kind or another. 

The Ohio State University has issued personal digital assistants to med students for at least the last six years, and now is in the process of equipping 1,400 doctors-in-training and medical residents with the iPod Touch--an iPhone without the phone. Georgetown University recently started requiring its med students to carry an iPhone or iPod Touch starting with the second year of med school, something the students themselves had lobbied for.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this Washington Post story
- check out this press release from Manhattan Research