From the other end, the medical community is aiming to perfect their current bioinformatics computational tools. In other words, the search for the best formats to organize medical information as passed through the World Wide Web is also underway. "With the assistance of high-performance parallel computer to enhance the network connections and interactive user interface, the scaleable parallel computer architectures provide the biomedical researchers with massive amount of accurate data for long searches or computations in record time." (Lei 1998). Generally, protocols are in development to make the patient, doctor, electronic transactions as smooth, effortless, and flawless as possible. Not only that, but such a network could possibly alert various medical organizations around the country as to specific locations and occurrences of future epidemics -- which could be very useful to stopping the spread. Such an efficient plan "requires careful management to bring people and technology together in creative and innovative ways. The care plan must collect and process a tremendous quantity of information about members' health risks, histories, habits, and hopes." (Jennings 101).
Clearly, one of the primary concerns of biomedical practitioners looking to utilize accurate and efficient databases is associated with the sheer volume of information that must be stored, specifically when dealing with the genome.
Presently the billion base pairs of nucleotides and literature are available for use on the Net. New sequence analytical tools...
Despite the daunting task set before both physicians and librarians, the future of electronic medical information is extremely bright. If properly adopted and integrated into the current medical and electronic organizational structures, it is feasible that patients can be treated more accurately, efficiently, and with greater ease for everyone involved. Essentially, the amount of valuable information on the World Wide Web requires that it be exploited to its fullest potential by health care organizations; all that remains is to sort this information and to present it in a manner that is simple and user friendly.
Bibliography
Jennings, Ken and Kurt Miller and Sharyn Materna. (1997). Changing Health Care. Santa Monica: Anderson Consulting.
Lei, Polin P. "Harnessing Biomedical Resources for Cooperation and Collaboration: Cases in Bioinformatics and Nutritional Sciences." (1998). Special Libraries Association. Tuscan: University of Arizona Publications.
