Next time you visit a doctor's office, don't be surprised if she accesses prescription data on her BlackBerry, but don't assume the same technology will be available at your hospital.

Dr. Hugo Quintana, a cardiologist, has adopted the iPhone to read electrocardiogram from any location to help speed diagnosis and treatment of patients.

According to one medical software vendor, physicians are already warming up to Apple's coming tablet, the iPad, with 22% percent of clinicians in a survey saying they plan to purchase the device within a year.

The legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the much-awaited consumer electronics item 'iPad' in San Francisco, on Wednesday. Powered by Apple’s 'own' processor code-named A4 running at 1 GHz, a brilliant 9.7" LED display (Apple calls it IPS technology) with 16 to 64 GB of ‘flash’ memory, 10 hours of battery, WiFi (802.11n), Bluetooth (2.1), GPS and accelerometer, the ½' thin Apple iPad weighs a mere 1.5 pounds.

Handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the iPod Touch are prevalent among doctors. However a recent study shows that these devices may be particularly useful for emergency radiologists, who in the near future, may be able to use them for teleconsultation and emergency procedures, according to a study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.