Digital — The word is everywhere today. Digital phones, cameras, televisions — the list seems endless.

The digital revolution is also beginning in the field of health care. Medical records are being digitized, and computers are either located in the patient rooms or are in a nearby hallway. X-rays have gone digital and can be sent over the internet to the patient’s physician who may be out of town.

It’s possible that that physician might be able to view that X-ray on his smart phone instead of having to find a computer.

Health care is embracing the digital age in many ways from patient access to records to preliminary interviews by utilizing such services as Skype.

If you need more information about an illness or disease, you can probably find the website that covers it such as: American Cancer Society; American Diabetes Association; American Heart Association; and even more lesser-known diseases.

If you do a preliminary search on the internet for “symptoms,” you will likely get an immediate list of sites such as: triagehealth.com; ucomparehealth.com; everydayhealth.com; and many others.

The big questions are: Can you trust the information there? Isn’t it unwise to self-diagnose? Can you safely enter your information into the website?

“We recommend that people look at the privacy banners at the bottom of the websites to see what the site’s privacy policy is and whether they sell information that they might be collecting,” said Susan Becker, chief operating officer of the Providence Medical Group. “Find out the ownership of the site. Is it this health information site but it’s backed by a drug company? You need to be informed about the source of the information and you can usually find that in the banners at the bottom of the page.”

As far as entering personal health information, “We do not recommend that they do that,” she said. “If they are asking for money, stay away from those sites, too.”

“What I see on the internet is the lack of accountability of the people who are pushing whatever drug, whatever treatment or whatever theory out there,” said Larry Ratcliff, MD, medical director for Providence. He added that he is accountable for information that he gives to patients while the anonymous internet sites are not.

Does that mean that all the sites are bad and are only there to scam you or sell you something?

“We would certainly be concerned if (patients) were using that information as a substitute for seeing a doctor,” said Dave Mezzanotte, vice president of sales and marketing for CareSource. “But it could definitely be a plus if a patient were using it to have a more informed discussion with a health professional.”

“Some of it is discernment,” said Susan Wollebeck, marketing director of Premier Health Partners. “You have to discern what the source is. As a patient, I have a tendency to go to national sites that are organization sites for, say, orthopedics or the American Medical Association — sites which have to be unbiased.

“What I caution people is that you are making a decision about health care. Look and get your content. Look at multiple sources, not just one. Then go and have a conversation with your primary care doctor and say, ‘I found this on the internet. Is it relevant or not? Can I believe this?’

“This is where you have to be careful with information,” she continued. “Not only ‘is it right?’ but ‘is it right for me because of my medical conditions?’ Your primary care doctor should be the one to say.

“That family doctor knows what your history is, what you currently are on, what your current conditions are. They are professionals that can tell you one way or another whether you need to consider that (information) or not.

Emergency medical records are helping to open up more information to the patient as well. Through secure patient portals, patients can access their own health records, request prescription refills, make appointments, pay bills and send messages to their doctor’s office.

In some cases, you don’t even need a computer to do so.

“Forty-four million people downloaded health care apps this year,” Becker said. “And by 2016, 142 million are going to go on and not only get information but are going to be able to plug in devices to monitor their blood pressure or diabetes and feed that information into electronic records for the physician.”

“As of (early February), on the iPhone platform, there is a MyChart app for the iPhone and Premier (Health Partners) deployed that,” said Barry McCorkle, MD, of Belmont Physicians. “Patients can now download the MyChart app and sign in on their phone. They can now do instant messaging to the doctor’s office and review test results on the iPhone no matter where they are.” McCorkle said he believes that MyChart (a patient portal to medical records) is developing an Android application as well.

At CareSource, an Android application will be first for its members. CareSource is primarily a Medicaid health plan with a small number of Medicare members as well.

“I think one of the stereotypes of the population that we deal with is that they aren’t digital —that they aren’t online — and that is simply not the case,” said Mezzanotte. “A research study said that 25 percent of the people making less than $10,000 a year have a smartphone — not a cell phone but a smartphone. (Smartphones) are being proliferated significantly in a lower income base and that is growing as the cost of acquisition keeps going down.

“They are using that smartphone, in many cases, as their sole source of getting on the internet,” he explained, adding that the demographics of CareSource’s members determined that an application for Android phones would be more likely useful, with the Apple app to come later.

Local health systems and hospitals all have their own websites listing services provided and other pertinent information.

“Pre-registration online in a secure and safe area (will be available) in the coming year,” Wollebeck said. “And mobile apps for finding a doctor.”

Some locations are even posting videos of physicians introducing themselves and explaining the scope of their practices to potential patients.

For those seeking health care employment, the written resume and the face-to-face interview may be a thing of the past in some institutions.

“There is no reason why you can’t have initial interviews or screenings over Skype or something like that,” said Bill Linesch, vice president of human resources for Premier Health Partners. “College campuses are particularly adept at this now. A student can go into a placement office and they go to an interview room. They are right there and you are right there and have a face-to-face discussion over the PC. It saves time and the quality of the interaction now is so much better than it was.

“I can Skype from my iPad or my cell phone,” he added.

Digital technology has exploded on the scene in the past decade. Can you imagine what the next decade might bring?