Four in five docs could have smartphones by 2012

Better than four in five U.S. physicians will have smartphones by 2012, up from about 64 percent today, says a new report from Manhattan Research. (A year ago, the number was about 54 percent.) This is part of a larger trend of the Internet becoming the No. 1 professional resource among doctors, the New York-based research firm says in its latest publication, "Physicians in 2012: The Outlook for On Demand, Mobile, and Social Digital Media."

With this shift, technology is becoming more integrated into the physician workflow. "By 2012, all physicians will walk around with a stethoscope and a smart mobile device, and there will be very few professional activities that physicians won't be doing on their handhelds. Physicians will be going online first for the majority of their professional needs, and will be regularly pulling online resources into patient consultations," Manhattan Research's senior director of research, Monique Levy, says in a company statement.

For more, including the report's table of contents:
- have a look at this Manhattan Research press release
- read this excerpt from the report

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