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Medical Profession Lags In Use Of Real-World Technology

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Smart phone technology is being highly underutilized in medicine. In fact, I think the medical industry which has been so far ahead in developing technology such as CT scans, MRIs and PET scans, has done relatively little to use technology that already exists.

Yes, there are some physicians reading real-time heart rhythm strips or fetal monitoring on their smart phones but not as many as should be. People could be having their blood sugars or blood pressures linked daily from home - and it is being done - but not as much as it should be.

Right now the government is providing incentives for hospitals to build computer systems that collect data and demographics but it will not be until real world use of technology is encouraged that we might see improvements in our overall health care.

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