There are two things Larry Nathanson, MD, can't work without when he's on duty in the emergency ward: his stethoscope and his iPad. After nearly a year using the tablet, it has become an integral tool for treating patients. "As I am walking from room to room, I know who I need to see next," he explained, scrolling through the virtual emergency room patient board on the iPad. "I definitely feel lost when I don't have this on a shift," he said. As the director of emergency medicine at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Nathanson was among the first doctors at the hospital to buy an iPad the day it launched. He paid for it himself, but it has more than paid off in the time he saves not having to chase down records. "Patients often have a lot of questions, and I am able to answer them immediately with the latest data in real time," Nathanson said. "I can sit there at the beside and I can go over what's going on."
