Information Technologies and Health Care: 3. The Need for New Technologies to Support the Conveyence and Use of Knowledge

The first two communications in this series, published in the January and February issues ( Arch Intern Med 125 :157 and 351) concluded that provision of "the best known care to all who need it" is contingent on at least three prerequisites: the supply of physicians, physicians' ability to obtain relevant up-to-date knowledge, and physicians' ability to use this knowledge unerringly in patient care; they suggested that, without new technologies, the shortage of physicians in this country, let alone abroad, will be difficult or impossible to overcome during this century. This third contribution suggests that new technologies are also needed in the acquisition and use of an exponentially-growing body of medical knowledge by practicing physicians, regardless of their number. The Growth of Medical Knowledge The total body of knowledge to be mastered by the student and implemented by the practitioner appears to have been quite static in the days of