Is your doctor infected?

摘要

For a couple of decades now, the Department of Health has been talking about putting patients' medical records on smart cards. Everyone in Britain will carry their card with them, so doctors or hospitals giving emergency treatment will quickly discover any pre-existing condition or allergy. This scheme, dubbed Carecard in the 1980s, relies on family doctors putting their patients' records on computers instead of scrappy paper notes. These cards have not yet come to pass, largely because people fear the personal information they carry will get into the wrong hands. But the computerisation of doctors' surgeries is moving ahead fast, and doctors now seldom write their notes on paper. Instead, they store them on their practice computer system, which also lets them connect to the Internet, search for medical news and e-mail specialists worldwide.