RNs and PDAs

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Smartphones, and Nursing

Follow my blog at  http://jeanne-sewell.blogspot.com/

Find out more information about PDAs in Informatics and Nursing:  Competencies and Applications (Thede, L.Q. & Sewell, J.P.) - Chapter 13 - Mobile Computing:  Finding Knowledge in the Palm of Your Hand.  Click on the Textbook link in the web site menu to learn more.

What is a PDA? 

A PDA (personal digital assistant) is a handheld computer.  The PDA user can synchronize information between a desktop/laptop computer and the handheld device.  PDAs give the user the ability to have a calendar, address book, email, electronic reference information (like drug information, medical dictionaries, medical calculators, laboratory and diagnostic testing information) at their fingertips.

What is a Smartphone?

For many years -- the Palm devices dominated the market and as a result, there are lots of freeware available for the Palm OS (operating system).  I switched to a Pocket PC with Windows Mobile in 2004.  In 2007, I transitioned to a Smartphone with Windows Mobile software.  Smartphones are currently making an impact in the handheld computer market because cellular phone service providers make the devices very affordable.

In 2009, I transitioned from a Windows Mobile Smartphone to the iPhone 3G S.  Wow!  What a miraculous improvement. I loved the particular Windows Mobile Smartphone, but it was missing a touch screen and wireless capabilities.  The iPhone 3G S has everything that I need.  I love the way that it is mobile phone, an iPod (with my favorite music) a camera that shoots still and video, voice activated commands, a GPS, and really useful functions, for example:

• iGoogle web page (or other favorite web site pages) as an icon
• Google docs - with editing capability
• Skype (Voice over Internet Protocol - VoIP) Free computer-2-computer phone calls with video capability
• MileBug Lite (every nursing professor or other professional who travels to clinical sites or conferences will find this app helpful for travel reimbursement forms).
• EverNote - keep notes in the form of text, snapshot, video, and voice
• Documents 2 (Free, but has advertising.  Google docs is a better alternative because it allows for document sharing)
• ePocrates
• Medscape
• AHRQ ePSS
• Relax Lite (great resource  for students with test anxiety)
• Skyscape
• Bing
• Stanza (eBook reader which can be used to read books you create yourself)
• Kindle (Download books from Amazon to read)
• Bump (contact information swapping - thanks to M. Duryea for sharing info on this app)
• Paper Toss & Glyder (gotta have some play time but I am awful at Glyder!)

I receive university email through an Exchange Server.  The iPhone will allow me to connect and receive email from all four of my email accounts (didn't have that capability with the Windows Mobile Smartphone).  I also can synch with Microsoft Outlook contacts and calendar on my PC in addition to the Exchange Server contacts and calendar.

Two colleagues on my research team also have iPhones.  The photo on the left is from one of our research meetings.  We use our iPhones to do phone conferences with four of our research partners in Huntsville, Alabama; Carrolton, Georgia; and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago.  You can have up to 6 conference call participants on each phone.  It uses talk time minutes quickly, but is still amazing.

New to the PDA World?  Check out these tutorials!

• Duke University Medical Center - PDAs http://www.mclibrary.duke.edu/training/pda
• PDA MD  http://www.pdamd.com/vertical/tutorials.xml 

How Do PDAs Work?

Great resource to help us understand how Smartphones and PDAs work is located on the How Stuff Works website:

• Smartphone - http://communication.howstuffworks.com/smartphone.htm
• PDA - http://www.howstuffworks.com/pda.htm .
  

Deciding What Device to Purchase?

• ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/
• iPhone Life http://www.iphonelife.com/
• PC World http://www.pcworld.com/
• Abby's Guide PDAs http://www.abbysguide.com/pda/guide/pda-connections.html

Recommended PDA Resources of Interest to Nurses

• Informatics and Nursing: Competencies and Applications (check your library or purchase online) http://www.amazon.com/Informatics-Nursing-Competencies-Linda-Thede/dp/0781795974/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245676763&sr=8-2
• PDA Cortex http://www.PDAcortex.com
• pdaMD.com http://www.pdamd.com
• PDA Connections (check your library or purchase online) http://www.amazon.com/PDA-Connections-Mobile-Technology-Professionals/dp/0781759994

Medical & Nursing PDA Software Resources

• NIH PDAs Basics and Training http://nihlibrary.nih.gov/ResourceTraining/TrainingDescription.htm?ID=107&View=Tutorial
• NIH Library Medline Database on Tap http://mdot.nlm.nih.gov/proj/mdot/mdot.php
• PDA Street.com http://www.palmblvd.com/software/pc/prod-medical-datesort-1.html
• SkyScape (Digital nursing textbooks and references) http://www.skyscape.com
• Shots http://www.immunizationed.org 
• ePocrates Rx™ Clinical Drug, ePocrates ID™  Infectious Disease, and ePocrates Formulary databases http://www.epocrates.com/
• Pocket PC software http://www.pocketpcsoft.net/
• The Best Medical iPhone Apps for Doctors and Medical Students http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/medical/the-best-medical-iphone-apps-for-doctors-and-med-students-1100709/ (this is a blog site narrated by Houston Neal.  It includes apps for dentists, nurses, and other healthcare professional, not just doctors and med students)

Mobile Computing Library Web Sites (Researched by T. Grizzard, W. Davis, & J. Russ)

• Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library at The George Washington University Medical Center http://www.gwumc.edu/library/resources/pdares/

• PDA Handheld Databases & Downloads - includes information and links to many health sciences PDA  resources
  http://www.gwumc.edu/library/portals/medicinehs/pdamedsoft.cfm

• Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at University of Virginia Health System http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/services/computing/pda/

• Arizona Health Sciences Library at University of Arizona
  http://www.ahsl.arizona.edu/computing/pda/ 

• UT Health Center Libraries at the University of Texas, San Antonio
  http://www.library.uthscsa.edu/
  

• University of Saskatchewan Health Sciences Library
  http://library.usask.ca/hsl/pda
  

• University of Buffalo School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
  http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/pda/

• Health Links - University of Washington
  http://healthlinks.washington.edu/howto/pda/

• Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Galter Sciences Library
  http://www.galter.northwestern.edu/GalterLists/PDA-Handheld

• University of Alberta Libraries
  http://www.library.ualberta.ca/pdazone/health/index.cfm

• The Ohio State University John A. Prior Health Sciences Library
  http://library.med.ohio-state.edu/3336.cfm

• University of North Carolina Libraries
  http://www.hsl.unc.edu/Services/Guides/focusonpda.cfm

• University of Illinois at Chicago Library
  http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/lhs/resources/pda/medpda.shtml

• University of Colorado - Denver Health Sciences Library
  http://hslibrary.ucdenver.edu/pda-guide
  

Do you have any comments or recommendations for this page?  Email me at jeanne.sewell@gcsu.edu

Last Updated: 02/14/2010