Digital Communication in Medical Practice

"Introducing Digital Communications into Your Medical Practice" discusses how electronic medical records and personal health records now digitize patient information and make it accessible for review and easy to update by both doctors and patients. The text emphasizes on how the use of email and the internet will help patients to schedule appointments, access test results and research healthcare options. In addition, topics discussed include stories on how simple everyday telemedicine tools, such as telephones with cameras attached, enable doctors and nurses to carry on conversations with patients who are homebound and need daily monitoring. The text addresses the legislative initiatives that will protect physician and patients from the unauthorized access to medical records as well as discussing how e-prescribing doctor/pharmacist teams and automated databases help patients manage their medications more effectively. Case studies are also provided to illustrate real life situations showing how this technology is deployed and why it is so critical to healthcare.

Nancy B. Finn is President of Communication Resources, a consulting organization that helps small business and start-up companies communicate more effectively with customers, prospects and business, a published author and an adjunct faculty member at Bentley College in Massachusetts.

William F. Bria, MD is Chief Medical Information Officer at Shiners Hospital for Children and President of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems.