Handheld computers, also known as personal digital assistants, PDAs, pocket computers, and Palm Pilots, are useful tools in clinical, teaching, and research settings because they provide the user with information at the point of need. Easy to use, rugged, instant-on, and small enough to fit into a lab coat pocket, PDAs are capable of running an enormous variety of software including textbooks, drug references, diagnostic calculators, and patient management tools. Because they provide information at the point of care, and can therefore serve to translate evidence into practice, PDAs are vehicles for evidence-based health care. In fact, the use of handheld computers in the health sciences is sometimes referred to as "mobile informatics."
 

Borrow a PDA

Interested in trying out a PDA? Check out a Palm Tungsten E from the Bracken Library Reserve Desk. The loan period is 3 days. The PDA is loaded with ePocrates Rx, a drug look-up tool, and MedCalc, a calculator for many medical equations. You can also use the PDA to read the PDA books below.

Check out a PDA book

The PDA books available for loan are "plug and play"--if your PDA has an MMC (multimedia card) expansion slot, simply insert the card into the slot. Everything you need is on the card...no hassles with downloading, synching (synchronizing the PDA to your desktop computer), or running out of main memory. You may need to download the Mobipocket Reader to view these books on your PDA. Please ask for PDA books at the Reserve Desk. The loan period is 3 days.

Downloading Applications

Hundreds of health sciences reference materials, both free and proprietary, are available for use on the PDA. For software reviews, see Dalhousie University's software recommendations. The John W. Scott Health Sciences Library at the University of Alberta maintains a very helpful subject guide to resources.

Many software vendors will let you try their products before buying by providing software downloads for a time or usage-limited evaluation period. A subscription is generally for one year and includes updates. For resources and applications, visit the commercial and non-commercial sites below. This selected list of sites is intended as a starting point.

• Diagnosaurus: free resource derived from McGraw-Hill's CURRENT Consult Medicine; 1000+ differential diagnoses searchable by disease, symptom, or organ system
   
• EBM Calculator: click on Handheld Resources for a free evidence-based research calculator developed by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital; calculates statistics for randomized controlled trials
• ePhysician Inc: suite of software allows physicians to write and transmit prescriptions, track billing, etc.
• ePocrates: a free drug reference which allows users to annotate drug entries
• Handango: general source for all types of PDA apps (business, education, utilities, and games)
• Handheldmed: general and specialty medicine texts such as the Merck Manual, Harrison's, 5MCC
• Harrison's on Hand: the handheld version of the text Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
• Healthy Palm Pilot: free reference materials from pdaMD.com; includes user reviews
• JournalToGo: delivers free selected journal abstracts from several medical journals when you hot sync
• Lexi-Comp: developer of the top-rated Lexi-Drugs drug information source
• MedCalc: free calculators for many medical equations
• MedRules: clinical prediction rules for Palm OS© handhelds
• NCBI Bookshelf: free handheld versions of books such as Medical Microbiology.
• NLM Mobile: search Medline and retrieve citations on your wireless Palm or Pocket PC PDA. Free!
• PalmGear.com: most Palm applications are available here, including almost 600 health/medical apps
• pdaMD.com: the Learning Centre has top-notch information for new and experienced PDA users
• PEPID: used to stand for Portable Emergency and Primary Care Information Database but now offers other products
• Peripheral Brain: family practice residency site; homepage for MedRules
• PICOmaker: a free evidence-based practice tool from the University of Alberta that lets users create and store queries in the PICO (patient, intervention, comparison, and outcome) format for later reference.
• Redi-Reference Clinical Guidelines: summarizes commonly used clinical guidelines relevant to family practice
• skyscape: a commercial site which offers a nice interface for textbooks, some of which are integrated (link to each other); 25% reflected once Queen's users "add to cart"
• unbound medicine: a commercial site; 25% discount reflected once Queen's users "add to cart"

Buying a PDA

The Faculty of Medicine Palm Committee at Dalhousie University has hardware guidelines which specify the features of various models and platforms. Members of the Queen's community can purchase handheld computers, peripherals and accessories from the Queen's University Campus Computer Sales & Service. Considerations when buying a handheld computer include:

• operating system: Palm OS vs. the Pocket PC OS (80-90% are Palm)
• software availability: more Palm software is available
• display: color, backlighting, screen resolution and size
• memory: 16 MB is the minimum as some medical references use 4MB; expansion slots
• peripherals including portable keyboard, cameras, MP3 players
• wireless connectivity and institutional support

Staying Informed

Interested in the potential of handheld computers in health care, education and research? The Journal of Mobile Informatics is a free e-journal which also hosts listservs, the most popular being RNPalm for nursing applications. Due to the large volume of journal articles published, the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University provides a "canned" PubMed search on PDAs.

Questions or Comments? Please contact Laurie Scott.