If their expectations come to fulfillment, well, then so much for my guarded skepticism on this topic (hospitals) in an earlier story.

Given that 60% of prospects, yeah, at least 20-30% seems very plausible, especially starting with that 20% of MDs who do already use iPhones or iPods (I had no idea — that’s great!). Shoot, I’d have been impressed if only 10% of all doctors were to buy one.

And as several reports have indicated from the presentation, once you get your hands on one, Steve’s RDF kicks in and the Visa card comes out. So when some PC-only surgeon doing morning rounds sees a colleague with an iPad and asks about it — ka-ching, ka-ching…

I look forward to follow-up reports this summer and into the fall.

Ask your doctor if Apple iPad is right for you!

Possible side effects include enjoying photos, music, video, audio books, ebooks, web surfing, email, GPS, iPhone apps, and more.

Tablet computers have a log history of success in the medical field, I would expect nothing less for the iPad.

I work in an ER I use a Windows pad now for history and physical information as well as ordering tests and retrieving labs, x-ray reports, etc.  The Windows pad is heavy and clunky with a touch pen.  I’m very interested in the iPad as a replacement.  What I’d really like to see is a good voice recognition program for short dictations.  It is also going to be great for immediate answers to research quickly for EBM questions on the Internet.  As for Epocrates, which is probably used by about 75% of physicians, they have a lot to gain, or keep.  I paid $140 for my last year’s service fee.  The iPad is going to be a great success IMHO.

The iPhone has been a great medical tool; practically the next best thing to a medical tricorder.

Not only Epocrates, which I do use on the iPhone, but other applications and medical references as well have made it practically indispensable. With the expanded screen capacity of the iPad, many of these applications will be even better, particularly those that allow physicians to monitor patients’ status.

If MacSpeech or someone else makes an app with a medical dictation package for the iPad, that will seal the deal with a number of docs.