Library Grand Rounds

The Handheld PDA: A Valuable Clinical Information Tool
September 18, 2001

Handheld "Personal Digital Assistants" (PDAs) such as the popular Palm devices are rapidly becoming a tool of choice for the busy clinician, resident, and medical student. With handhelds, medical professionals can access and manage information at the point-of-care where decision support is crucial. Handheld devices can provide patient tracking, clinical diagnosis support, drug reference, medical dictionaries and calculators, calendars, and contact lists - all in a device that you can easily carry in your pocket and access instantly.

This Library Grand Rounds provided an overview of this rapidly changing technology and updates on activities at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth Medical School/Dartmouth College. We illustrated some of the resources available locally and on the Web to help you fit a handheld into your future.

Agenda

• Introduction
  Bill Garrity, Director of Biomedical Libraries
• Hardware and Operating System Overview (Powerpoint presentation)
  Dave Izzo, Manager of Computing and Media Services, Biomedical Libraries
• Current Initiatives
  • Bill Weyrick, Director of User Support, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Powerpoint presentation)
  • Steve McAllister, Director of Information Technology, Dartmouth Medical School (Powerpoint presentation)
  • Todd Burdett, Dartmouth Medical School Student '04 (Powerpoint presentation)

Resource Links

• Palm OS
  • Palm www.palm.com
  • Handspring www.handspring.com
  • TRG/ HandEra www.handera.com
  • IBM www.pc.ibm.com/us/workpad/index.html
  • Sony www.sonystyle.com/vaio/clie/index.html
• Windows Pocket PC (CE)
  • HP www.hp.com/jornada/
  • Casio www.casio.com/personalpcs/
  • Compaq www.compaq.com/showroom/handhelds.html
• CNET.com currently lists over 80 devices in hardware reviews and price indexes.

PDA Software

Database Software

• PC-Based
  • Pendragon Software www.pendragon-software.com
  • Satellite Forms 4.0 www.pumatech.com/Satellite_Forms_Enterprise.html
  • Microsoft Windows-Based Applications (e.g., Access; SQL Server) www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/default.asp
• Handheld Applications (Can be downloaded from Tucows.com)
  • HanDBase 2.75
  • Jfile4.1
  • List
  • Transform

Medical Resources

• Medical PocketPC http://www.medicalpocketpc.com/software.html news articles, software by field, medical links
• HandheldMed http://www.handheldmed.com software (including patient tracker), links
• Stanford University http://palm.stanford.edu the Stanford Palm Project website - FAQs, software, support
• PDA Md http://www.pdamd.com articles, learning center, products, discussion, news
• The Peripheral Brain http://pbrain.hypermart.net/basics.html Palm OS for Clinical Practice @ Riverside Regional Medical Center - Virginia Commonwealth University
• HealthyPalmpilot http://healthypalmpilot.hypermart.net/ associated with pdamd.com, downloadable software, reviews
• Medical journals abstracts via Advantgo http://www.handheldmed.com/mobilecontent.php or https://avantgo.com/frontdoor/index.html

General

• Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com --> computers --> hardware -->pda lists general websites for PDAs
• CNET http://www.cnet.com --> hardware reviews --> handheld provides reviews on PDAs with purchasing advice, pricing, etc
• HandHeld News http://www.handheldnews.com HandheldNews.com is software, news and information for Palm OS devices.
• PC Magazine http://www.pcmagazine.com articles, reviews, software, links
• TUCOWS http://www.tucows.com general computer site which includes PDA info — software, games

Please contact Karen Odato, the Libraries' education coordinator, if you have questions, comments or suggestions for future Library Grand Rounds.

The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center designates this educational activity for up to one hour in Category I credit towards the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he or she actually spent in the educational activity.
The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.