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Phil Gunby

JAMA. 1999;282:2292.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Forget those bulky medical file folders. Early in the century ahead, at least for US military personnel, medical records may be carried on a necklace in a modification of the GI dog tag and/or on a smart card. Both approaches are part of a study beginning this month and continuing through February.

This proposed computer-era dog tag, called a personal information carrier (PIC), provides eight megabytes of data. When coupled with a small-sleeve adapter, the PIC allows reading or updating of medical data through most computers, from desktop models in hospitals to handheld or laptop models in field medical units.

The PIC already has undergone initial testing in a training exercise at the US Marine Corps Quantico (Virginia) Combat Development Command. The surgeon general of the US Army, Lt Gen Ronald R. Blanck, DO, has been demonstrating a PIC with his own medical data at military medical facilities . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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