I'm just wondering if anyone else uses a pda to store their reference materials (drug refrence, Medical Dictionary, Diagnostic/Laboratory, Dosage calculators, etc...). I don't like the price of equipment and software too much but I am highly tempted by the thought of not having to haul around heavy reference books to classes and study sessions. I don't know if my back can take another year of that kind of torture;) . If you do use them what brand would you recommend and which software do you prefer?
I never had one; tuition kinda put a kabosh on it. One of my co-workers has one, though. Guess I am used to looking stuff up and/or remember some things....
'Cat'
hey there,
a pda is sweet! Not nearly as fast as you think it should be but overall really good. Just be careful, the nursing school I went to shunned them, they liked the idea of you flipping pages. I currently have a hp ipac 2495. It makes a lot of things easier, drug calcs and dosing is really helpful for those meds you dont use regularly. I have spread sheets for various meds and notes that pull up automatically. Coupled with that they can interface with your calendar on your pc and try and make sure you dont miss anything important like your kids birthday! The hospital I am with currently is a hot spot so I have internet acess, although how this helps is beyond me. Just be sure to use it as a tool, not a crutch! Good luck! Oh yeah, say your prayers..... I found that to help more than most things in school!
clem
Well I will be using it largely for nursing school at this point but I will be able to use it in clinicals as well. My school has not mentioned using them or not so I don't think they really have a preference. However when I go to the University of MN they actually require them for nursing students who are working on their MSN (didn't check if they require it for the BSN). I don't intend it to be a crutch at all. I certainly wouldn't want to be giving medical care to a patient that is limited to what I can fit on PDA. At this point I'm more attracted to being able to carry all my references in a small PDA than in several large heavy books (especially since I have enough large heavy books that can't go on the PDA that I DO have to carry). However, I intend to absorb as much knowledge as I can whether it's learned from class, books, notes, people, or even a PDA. I did decide to go ahead and buy one. I got mine off e-bay and it's also an IPAQ but it's the IPAQ 3870. I'm hoping it will come in the mail tomorrow before I leave since classes start tomorrow. But we will see. Thanks for your replies!:)
I totally recommend getting the PDA for tabers and DAvis drug guide. It was kind of nice to be able to pull it out and get the info for the nurse for this drug she never heard of before... plus the new drug was updated in my PDA but not in the davis drug guide book version at the hospital. -- recommend that if you are going to use a PDA for school... get one with at least 1G of memory - my school recommended we get the lowest version since it was cheaper.. but i ended up having to buy a better version again since all the software they wanted us to have would no fit on the pda without having to buy a memory stick. Save your money and time and get a better upgraded version.. ex. the lifedrive by palm.
im a paramedic and i use my pda alot, not much room for reference books in the back of the ambulance. i use er suite and for reference i use sum the skyscape programs.
my pda is a palm t|x i prefer the palms over the windows versions. personal preference.
peace,
brett
ok um i went over to microcenter,asked them about whats a good pda for me and they recommend that HP is better than palm just because the HP uses windows and palm doesnt.palm has its own Operating system.like they said that If im going to be using it for like medical dictionary/drug book I should go with HP..not that im going to be using them for drug book, not till 2 yrs from now
There is no reason to spend a lot of money on a PDA. You can pick up a pretty good one on EBAY really cheap. I bought an IPAQ RZ1715 from HP still new in the box for $100. After adding a 4 Gig SD card it does every thing I want it to. The only thing the new high dollar PDA’s have extra is Bluetooth (which I don’t need) and a lot of media junk that I don’t want. Do a little research on the web and don’t buy more than you really need.
i am a student nurse and i do have a PDA because it is required for my school. we have a program called Pepid which is beyong excellent. it has drug references and calculations as well as info on just about anything you can think of that you might experience in nursing. it is much better than carrying around a drug book and a reference book to clinicals. i guarantee that if you leanr how to use it, it will truly improve your patient care
kim