Doctors need to get wired

February 17, 2004 | Source: Nature Science Update

Around 100,000 deaths each year in US hospitals are thought to be due to medical error. But up to 60% of them might be avoided if doctors had access to a national computerized information system in which doctors could immediately call up a patient’s healthcare history, says medical information expert Paul Tang, who works at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California.

One study found that US doctors lacked complete information for more than 80% of their medical decisions.

Tang thinks the system should ultimately be improved with an integrated information system similar to that used in aircraft pilot cockpits.