Even before the federal government began pushing for universal adoption of electronic health records and the establishment of a nationwide health information network, most hospitals saw the need for systems integration. Being able to access critical patient data at the point of care, at the nurse's station or from remote sites became the rallying cry of doctors and nurses.

The climate of today's technology landscape within the healthcare arena seems to be changing at an ever-increasing rate ...

Today’s busy emergency departments have an arsenal of imaging tools at their disposal when triaging and diagnosing trauma patients. Increasingly, ED physicians are turning to more sophisticated technologies in addition to proven standbys — such as ultrasound, CR and DR — when diagnosing victims.

For all the potential patient safety good that is promised by healthcare’s widespread embracing of electronic health records (EHR), as well as the hoped-for harmony of hospital information systems happily humming a unified tune across vendor brands, the reality of sluggish adoption still plagues the industry. Hospital IT executives continually point to financial constraints as the No.