Vendors for healthcare products provide a wide range of useful information about their products and services. This information consists of printed test lists, educational materials, product-inserts, medical literature references and catalogs full of detailed information. Unfortunately, there is often too little time to review this information and, often, not nearly enough physical space to store it. It is also a challenge to locate specific information in a timely manner.

Recently, a sales representatives offered to "Beam" information instead of leaving small mountains of printed materials. This permitted us to look up their company's information faster and precisely when we need it. He was not only able to beam the entire catalog from his company in either Documents-to-Go or PDF format but also contact information and an HTML document with useful Internet links that can be accessed over the hospital's wireless network.

He was also able to include copies of selected references on the latest tests that the company is offering. Searching for a specific text in the LifeDrive means hitting the magnifying glass and entering some text, that's all there is to it. We are also able to request additional information with audio tagged email using Voice Memo and sending it to the previously beamed contact email address using Palm VersaMail 2.5.

This is truly a very effective sales tool that can provide information in the way that best meets our needs as clients and to do this in a way that is minimally intrusive during a busy workday.

Richard H. Siderits MD is an assistant professor at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School and is an avid proponent of wireless technologies in medicine.