Computerized medical records. Dream or reality?

For over 25 years many clinicians and others working in health-related fields have envisioned the day when physicians will use a computer on their desk or at the bedside to enter and retrieve the medical records and other information needed to care for their patients. Pioneers in medical informatics have been working during this time to develop the concepts and systems to make this possible, but so far, with only a few exceptions, this has been still mostly a dream. However, we may now be on the threshold of the time when these systems will be implemented on a large scale and become an integral part of the practice of clinical medicine, making the vision no longer a dream but a reality.