David Rew Consultant General Surgeon

Clinical outcomes in the Google era: The PB Desai Oration, ASICON

David A. Rew

Abstract

This article is based upon the PB Desai Oration which was given by the author in Ahmedabad on 28th December 2013 at the National Congress of the Association of Surgeons of India at the invitation of the Executive Board of the Indian Association for Surgical Oncology.

Keywords

Information technology, Surgical outcomes, Funnel plots, Clinical informatics

Introduction
The digital revolution and the spread of its enabling technologies are transforming lives and societies across the planet. As consumers and users of desktop and laptop computers, phones, mobile Personal Digital Assistants and Digital Tablets, we are all familiar with the flexible and near instantaneous access to the massive volumes of data which are the characteristics of the Internet. There are now billions of internet enabled devices in use, and technology - literacy is widespread even in poorly educated populations and pre-school children.