Medical schools are adapting to the dramatic changes in the new world of health care being brought about by digital medicine. "We're past the point where any physician can know everything he needs to know about a particular field in medicine," says Dr. Tom Norris, vice dean for academic affairs at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

The UW has created a department of genome sciences and a department of global medicine. Student learning is aided by simulations using robotics, electronics and computers. Information management is central to the curriculum because of the rapid growth of medical knowledge and because electronic health records require focused ethical discussions.

"We need to give the physician in the small town the same access to information, and the same skills in information management, that physicians in the large metropolitan areas have," Norris says. "We anticipate that medicine will change. I think it's probably going to be a fast evolution."