Ask Your Doctor... About Computers

How did we wind up with computers in most doctors' offices but little communication between these computers? This article briefly surveys efforts to introduce computerized, centralized, and portable electronic health records in the United States and why they have been largely unsuccessful. Historians of computing have the resources not only to help the general public think more constructively about the roles of computers in medicine, but also to see how what is happening in medicine lays bare the great and small changes the use of information technology has brought to everyday life.