Arrival of the iPad at hospitals could lead radiologists to take on a more involved role in the clinical setting, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine.
They could use iPads to better educate clinicians and patients on ward rounds and improve consultations, according to Dr Carl Miller, from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, USA, which recently purchased iPads for its 30 resident radiologists.
Mobile technology "is creating new classes of medical imaging consumers", he told delegates at the conference.
As soon as the iPads were bought by Johns Hopkins Medical institutions, many clinicians requested access, which was provided by distributing an HTML5 web viewer.
Dr Woojin Kim, Director, Center for Translational Imaging Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, USA, said that referring physicians use iPads more than other specialties in order to show images to patients, according to a HealthImaging report.