The next time you see your doctor and he looks up a bit of information—drug interactions, diagnosis data, treatment options, etc.—on a PDA or smartphone, don't worry. Instead of indicating a lack of knowledge, the physician is using a sure-fire method to deliver better and safer treatment.

The National Academy of Science - Institute of Medicine reported last year that medical errors cost the healthcare system $2 billion annually, with more than $100 million in preventable drug errors alone. A recent 10-year roadmap for improving the nation's healthcare system by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prescribes increased use of information technology, including handhelds, as among the most cost effective ways to improve patient care quality and reduce medical errors.

This finding is supported by a new survey from Skyscape, a company that specializes in mobilizing medical references. 50 percent of the 1,600 medical professional surveyed said PDA use reduces errors by more than 4 percent, with a whopping 92 percent of the doctors saying that PDAs help them improve efficiency. Among internists, 24 percent indicated it reduces their medical errors by over 10 percent, while an additional 41 percent achieved a lesser, but still impressive, 6 percent reduction.

In addition, the use of multiple medical references on one PDA is widespread, with over 78 percent of respondents having at least three medical references on their mobile device. Forty-six percent of internists have five or more references and 10 percent indicated they have 10 or more references on their PDA.

Skyscape VP of Marketing RJ Mathew noted, "It is essential that these references all work together seamlessly and be easy to use." Of course, the company offers a technology, smARTlink, to do just that with its handheld references.

Close to 90 percent of doctors leverage mobile drug references more than any other type. 38 percent of respondents indicated that they also use PDAs for drug interaction checks, with cardiologists and internists the most likely to use it for that purpose.