| |
Handheld Basics
The tutorial provides handheld basics for beginners, including how to buy a PDA and download programs.
Find answers to frequently asked questions about handhelds below.
Why Do I Need One?
A personal digital assistant (PDA) can improve your work. It’s a great organizer that can hold phone and pager numbers, copier codes, contacts, your calendar, to-do list, notes, and more. It can put a wealth of information in your hands, such as medical reference handbooks and a calculator to help you calculate dosages for medicine. Having this information readily available on a PDA or smartphone can also improve patient safety as suggested by numerous research studies.
Top
What’s the difference between PDA and a Smartphone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone and Palm?
PDA is the generic term for the handheld computer market. Smartphone is a term for a combination of a PDA and a cellular phone. Just as there are Windows-based desktops and Mac-based desktops, there are Blackberry operating system-based Smartphones, Palm operating system-based (Palm OS) PDAs and Smartphones, the iPhone and Microsoft-based Pocket PCs (Windows Mobile). HP, Dell and others make these. Most software is available for all four platforms.
Top
Should I Use a Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone or Palm OS for a Medical Handheld?
Most of these platforms have a wide range of handhelds with plenty of features and price ranges. The iPhone is the exception. It is also able to work well as a medical handheld reference.
Top
How Do I Put Medical Software on these PDAs?
Just like buying software for your computer, you can buy PDA software. The majority are on sale over the web and they are easy to download. Visit our General and Medical Handheld Links section to see the array of pediatric references available. (We do not sell these programs.)
Top
How do I decide which operating system to use, Blackberry, Palm, iPhone or Windows Mobile?
For your initial purchase, do not buy the most sophisticated handheld. Go for a basic PDA and see if you like it. Once you have incorporated it into your everyday life, try a free drug reference guide, such as Epocrates . Get something similar to your colleagues’ PDAs. Before buying a PDA, go to your local electronics store and test a few to see if you like the feel and keyboard. Also, make sure the screen is easy to read. Based on experience in their practice, our pediatricians recommend either the Blackberry devices or the Palm OS platform.
Blackberry is recommended due to the following:
- Ease of Use
- Very infrequent crashes of the device
- Increasing number of medical applications
The Palm OS is recommended due to the following:
- Has many software programs available
- Its operating system has many usable features
Top
What are the other factors I should consider when buying a handheld or smartphone?
Here's your check list. Decide what is important and find the handheld/smartphone that fits your criteria.
- Price
- Simplicity
- Ease of integration with desktop documents
- Ease of integration with e-mail
- Size and weight
- Battery life
- Data entry (integrated keyboard or graffiti)
- Integrated cell phone
- Modems and Internet capability
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- Wireless capability (WiFi, Bluetooth)
- Music, MP3 and multimedia
- Integrated digital cameras
- Ease and effectiveness of back-up functions
Top
Can PDAs Act as Laptops?
A PDA is able to function as a mini-laptop. A document reader or word processor acts as Microsoft Word for the PDA/smartphone. They allow you to create, view and edit a document. You can format fonts and sync to MS Word on your desktop. You also can sync edited files on the desktop to the handheld.
iSilo reads HTML documents, allowing you to save web pages to your PDA. It serves as a document reader only and does not have an edit function. The Medical iSilo Depot run by Meister Med , has the most extensive collection of medical iSilo documents available. iSilo is available for the Palm OS and Windows Mobile platforms.
Finally, there are several stand-alone programs that are available for the PDA and are easy to download. See our Software for Professionals for more information.
Top
How much memory do I need?
A medical handheld should have at least 32 mb of memory and preferably 64 mb for the Palm OS handheld. If purchasing a Windows Mobile handheld, start out using at least 64 mb of internal memory. Blackberry smartphones often have 64 mb of internal memory which should be adequate. The iPhone has several gigabytes of memory available.
Both Palm OS and PPC allow the addition of inexpensive memory cards to store gigabytes of additional information, such as photos, MP3 files and more.
Top
What is Bluetooth?
Bluetooth is a way to wirelessly connect with other portable devices. Common examples are the wireless earpieces for cell phones or the way that cars can connect to cell phones. Many PDAs have Bluetooth capability and in addition to the earpieces, there are Bluetooth keyboards available.
Top
What is WiFi?
WiFi is a wireless Internet connection, such as the type offered at coffee shops across the country, that is typically very fast. More hospitals are using this technology.
Top
What about HIPAA considerations?
A recent editorial from Pancoast et al suggests the following for maintaining HIPAA requirements with a handheld:
- Keep careful physical control of the device at all times.
- Use data encryption technology to protect the information.
- Use a password when turning on the PDA and a time-out to reactivate the password.
- Disable the infrared ports except during use.
- Do not send infrared transmissions in public locations.
Top
Do not get intimidated by the list. Many patient data programs have encryption technology. There are several password protection programs available for a handheld.
|
|
