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"The future physician of America" is a tech savvy one - one who reaches for an iPhone to choose clinical references, and who expects to use an EHR when he or she begins practicing, according to a recent survey of medical students.The fifth annual Future Physicians of America survey, sponsored by Epocrates, polled more than 700 medical students who use the company's software, seeking their opinions on a range of topics impacting the medical profession. Approximately 80 percent of survey respondents will be practicing physicians in less than two years.

Given that texting is the most widely used mobile data service and healthcare workers are among the biggest users of mobile technology, it may seem natural for its use to be extended into the physician-patient relationship. But it is more complex than sending and responding to 160 character messages, experts told Healthcare IT News in April.

With the release of the iPad in April, many healthcare experts predicted that it could be a "game changer" for the industry by spurring physician's adoption of electronic medical records. Connecticut physician Steven A. R. Murphy proposed that every doctor should use one. "The iPad is going to crush laptops in this healthcare space," he told Healthcare IT News in May.

In the year 2010 doctors should be looking at technologies that could help boost their communication with their patients, experts told Healthcare IT News in January. Thomas J. Handler, MD, research director at Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Gartner Inc., predicted that the patient centered medical home was set to heat up in 2010. He said this would bring a focus on improving physician and patient communication, or as he put it "customer relationship management" for lack of a better word.