How PDAs Help Medical Students

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/03/18/in_effort_to_improve_care_more_medical_schools_requiring_pdas/' target='_blank'>http://www.boston.com/news/local/rh...requiring_pdas/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Brown University medical student Jeremy Boyd leaned on the rail of Marian Thorpe's hospital bed and asked her about her collapse during dialysis. Then he asked whether she had any other medical conditions... They discussed her kidney problems, colon cancer and gout as well as her allergies and family history. Afterward, Boyd stepped into the hallway and recorded the information on his personal digital assistant. Brown recently joined a growing number of medical and nursing schools that require students to buy and use PDAs. Faculty and students say the technology saves time and helps them provide better care, in addition to reducing medical errors. Drug references and diagnostic programs can be stored on them, giving physicians information at their fingertips."</i><br /><br />Where I live, most medical schools don't require students to have PDAs, nor is it really recommended by the teaching staff, but students have definitely recognised the value of them and purchased one to help with their work. I use mine daily - in fact, just yesterday, I had a half hour stint with the digital version of Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine and got all the information I needed in just a few "taps". If you're a medical student or a clinician with a PDA (and golly, you'd have to have one if you're reading this post ;)), do share your thoughts on how it has helped you with your work.

[benyeap]

Medical students should try out the latest version of Archimedes, the free medical calculator for PPC.

[tap0utt]

I'm a second year medical student and there isnt a day where i dont use my pda.

Griffith's 5mcc, pocket consult, taber's cyclopedic dictionary, epocrates rx, and medical eponyms are my favorite.

anytime i cannot recall a medical term, i just look it up in a split second while other students are flipping through their paper back books with hundreds of pages to search.

dx'ing is also made with ease by using these programs to look up specific signs and symptoms.

but as they say, good doctors do not need technology to make the correct dx. simple paper, pencil, and a set of ears will do the trick...

statistics show that 80-90% of the information need to make a correct dx is through history taking.

[mwfielder]

I'm an Ob/Gyn in private practice. I use ePocrates essentials for prescribing and interaction lookup, how to treat various primary care issues that I have forgotton about, and many other of its functions. I use ObGyn Pocket Pro as my pregnancy "wheel" to calculate how many weeks pregnant my patient is. I use another program to track fetal growth. I use Skyscape's "The Little Blue Book" to find referring physicians phone numbers and local pharmacy numbers. I have saved articles, pics, and "cheat sheets" stored on my device. I see what days I am on call and what days I can schedule surgery on. I receive txt messages from my staff to tell me I have been in a patient's room too long. I also VPN into my office's server and can access my EMR (electronic medical record) from anywhere (like the seats of the ballpark).

Yes, I guess you could say I use my i730 in my job!

[cslaughtermd]

I finished my residency 2 years ago and I'm a practicin ER doc now and I use my XDA II every day. I started using an Apple Newton in 1997 in my 2nd year of medical school (at that time there were only a few medical programs available), using it for patient progress notes, patient tracking, and reference. I've been using a PocketPC since 2001 when I finally gave up on the newton and it has become an invaluable resource and saves a great deal of time when used effectively. I have multiple reference books including 5min ER consult, 5 min Tox, Harriet Lane pediatrics, Outlines in Clinical Medicine, as well as an OB wheel, medical calculator, and Tarascon Pharmacopeia. I used to actually get neck pain from all of the pocket reference books that weighed down my white coat, now I just carry my phone/pda in a holster and I have everything I need including internet access and PDF journal articles. If you're in medical school, residency, or a practicing physician, I'd suggest owning a WM5 device and exploring it - it will make learning easier, can streamline your practice, saving time and improving patient care.

[TheMouseMan]

Being a pharmacist by training and a PPC geek by nature, I would definately like some info / user experiences on the pharmacopeias and formularies for Windows Mobile devices.

Are any of the available options better than others? (I guess so, but are the premium price justifiable?).

Not working in clinical practice (I'm a policy / admin person) I wouldn't need it for daily use or quick reference. My need is more for the occassions when those irritating friends and relatives come to you with: "You're a pharmacist - can you tell me why/what....?". Plus for the occasional need for references for personal/family health and when reading news items related to medicines...

Any comments and suggestions? Are there any freeware / low cost eBooks available that could meet my low-use profile?!?

Any help appreciated!

- TheMouseMan

[cslaughtermd]

epocrates is a free drug reference and Archimedes is a free medical calculator from skyscape.com
There's medicalpocketpc (http://www.medicalpocketpc.com)
for news and I think some freeware links.
Good Luck!

[ppc_md2b]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been away on residency interviews, exam preparations, etc. But this thread caught my attention.

I'm in my last year of medical school (5 weeks left!) and will be starting a residency in Internal Medicine in July. I guess I should probably change my login name then :wink:

I am one of about 10 hard-core PDA users in my class. That represents only 5% of my class. Most of my colleagues purchased low-end Palm devices and only used them for ePocrates and mandatory patient-encounter log software. I, however, used my Loox 720 (and my T3 before it) to store a variety of third-party applications, PDF files, lecture notes in Word or Powerpoint, and study notes. My PPC has been an invaluable tool during medical school and I expect it to serve me well in the future. Having information at your fingertips makes for a better learning experience, better patient care, better training, more thorough histories and physical examinations, and a lab-coat that isn't burdened down with books bursting through the pockets.

Jon

[Darius Wey]

I'm in my last year of medical school (5 weeks left!) and will be starting a residency in Internal Medicine in July.

Great news! Congratulations on making it this far. :)

[ppc_md2b]

Hey Darius,

Thank you for the congrats, it is very much appreciated.

A few other things I wanted to mention regarding PDAs in medicine. First, I mentioned in my last post that I previously owned a T3 and then switched to the PPC world. I did this because I wanted a really fast device with a beautiful screen. Being on-call in the wee hours of the morning is never fun, and certainly not so if one has to squint or wait for the PDA to switch from app to app or access the memory card. I liked my T3 but the Loox was just in a different class entirely.

Finally, it used to be true that more medical software was available for the Palm OS than the PPC. This is becoming less relevant with every passing year, and in some cases (like UpToDate) the PDA version is only available for PPC. Epocrates has a few add-ons called MedTools that are mostly only for Palm. In the future I will try to run these via StyleTap but I haven't had the chance yet. The Johns Hopkins antibiotic guide is only for Palm but there are other apps (from Skyscape, or the Sanford Guide) which are just as good.

Jon

[Watti3460]

Anyone find PubMed/NCBI useful on the PDA?