Medical computing in Mississippi

As our society enters the information age, physicians are finding an ever growing role for computers in the practice of medicine. Computers are used for education, research, medical record keeping, communications and as a powerful reference resource. They have even served as electronic consultants to assist in diagnosis and medical decision making. Mississippians have been pioneers in the use of computers in research and education and have taken a very progressive view of the future of medical computing in our state. Resources such as the Mississippi Health Sciences Information Network have served to connect rural health practitioners to academic centers and other informational resources and improve the quality of patient care throughout the state. Internet users will find that there are many Mississippi medical institutions that have home pages on the world wide web that also connects us to the global medical community. Computers are rapidly becoming one of the most important new tools in the black bag of the modern physician.