[neci23]

Hello everyone, I am a newbie I will begin my nursing clinicals in Jan. we are required to purchase a pda, and also Tabers medical dictionary, Davis's drug guide, Diseases and disorders, and Davis handbook of laboratory diagnostic tests. Does anyone know if I can download any of these programs for free....or at least not the full price?

Also, instead of purchasing the palm tx that the school recomended I purchased the palm treo 650 so that I could replace my cell phone. I just received the phone 2 days ago but when I went to activate they want me to sign up for unlimited data.....for an extra $50/ a month. Besides getting on the internet do you all actually use the internet when in the clinical setting? I do not get on the internet that often so I am wondering if it is worth me getting the package. Can I still access these programs that I have to purchase without having the internet on my phone? Also, I am clueless when it comes to using the pda so just curious what do you guys use your pda for?

Thanks in advance!

[emsdude82]

Skyscape has all those programs, i have also been hunting for free versions but have not found any. It is not necessary to get the internet if your not going to use it, the skyscape programs run without it and will update through the hotsync process. I hope this was alittle helpful for you.

[traumaRUs]

I have a Palm Treo 700p smartphone and don't use the internet at all. At the hospitals there are computers and I use them...saves $50/month.

[fragino]

Unfortunately if you're like my clinicals, they don't allow cell phones on the floor. Can you disable the cell phone feature on your PDA? If not you may not allowed to use it.

I have not seen any place where you can get them for free but Skyscape is a good place to get your programs. The come with the desktop version for free. I didn't think I would use it but I found the desktop versions useful for research and when writing my careplans. Don't buy from Unbound because you are only renting the desktop version for one year. The price for subsequent year is the same price you pay for the pubs minus 20%.

I used my Tabers and Davis Drug guide all the time. Something will always come up that you don't know about and it's nice to just pull the PDA out of your pocket and look it up instead of going to the nurses station and look for book or a terminal that everybody else is waiting to use.