Patients may want Smartcards, but are they a Smart Idea?

This recent study is meant to be further impetus for those interested in the concept of smartcards. The lead author suggests that the major benefit of the smartcards will be to save time. He says “it’s quicker for a doctor to push a card into a machine a press a few buttons than it is to request a medical chart to come from medical records”. Agreed. But is it the best way?

The concept of using a card for anything is already decidedly 20th century (we are in the 21st remember). Mobile phones and other handheld devices are moving towards incorporating RFID and other wireless technology that will render bank and other cards inefficient.

Furthermore, the concept of keeping data on a card as opposed to in cyberspace is also old hat!