A recent study by Manhattan Research indicates that a large number of physicians in the U.S. are using information technology to aid their practices. The research, called Taking the Pulse v6.0: Physicians and Emerging Information Technologies, focuses on five key areas concerning technology adoption.

The study evaluated the role the internet plays for physicians on a daily basis. As it turns out, 579,000 physicians report using high-speed access at their office or home. Also, as many as 142,000 physicians report using the internet during patient visits. The physicians (610,000 of them) use an assortment of search engines, but also physician portals such as Medscape, Merck Medicus, and UpToDate that are an important resource on a regular basis, according to the study.
           
Many of today’s doctors (333,000) will be seen with that PDA, smartphone, or pen tablet. Some doctors (40 percent) even use iPods or orther portable digital music players in their work. As busy as they are, many physicians (487,000) make use of ‘new media’ such as streaming video, downloadable audio files, and blogs to assist their work, according to the finding.
           
As for working with pharmaceutical companies, nearly 75 percent use or would like to use an electronic or online means of communicating with them.