[MickyB-RN]

Originally Posted by autoharp15

Epocrates.com is a must. Its a free drug program that you can update. It tells you about all the drugs as well as Adult, peds dosages, contra indications, side effects, generic and brand names, what type it is, how its secreted, action ect. Its a wonderful program for Nurses. You can purchase the full version, but I have never done that. You will have all the information you need about any drug and all new drugs that come out. Its more up to date than the most recent drug books you can purchase on the shelf. I used it all thru school, and I still use it now that I am a working nurse.

I have the Dell Axim X50v with nothing loaded on it for clinicals. I am going to buy a 1GB Memory card today for it. I better start finding some good programs for it. I will start with the epocrates free drug program.


Kelly

[loriann]

I just bought a Tungsten E2 and had some questions after reading all the replies.

I see some people went to Skyscape and others have gone the Epocrates route. My question is, Do the people who purchased the Nursing Constellation package with Skyscape also need the Epocrates Essentials or are they really two different packaging systems that provide the same information.

Also, I bought a 256 MB card with my Palm. Should I put that card in when I download the programs I choose, or should I leave in the original card that came with the Palm?

I'm new to this, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Lori

[CrabbyPatty]

I downloaded many programs before I saw Constellation's package, so I'm not sure how great the programs they offer are. Before purchasing the Constellation Package, I'd go through each program and maybe download a trial version to look at before making a decision about buying the package (you may not like all the programs they have in their "package"). However, keep in mind that the trial versions are very limited in what you have access to, but they give you an idea as to what's there if you purchase the program.

I purchased the following which were either required or recommended reading for my nursing program: Davis' Drug Guide; RN Notes; Lippincott's Manual of Nursing Practices and Procedures; Taber's Medical Dictionary

Additional programs I purchased are: Lippincott's Nursing Diagnosis (which I love, it lists NANDA, NOC, & NIC diagnoses info); Netter's Anatomy Flashcards (for my A&P class I had last year); I downloaded Archimedes Medical Calculator (for free from Skyscape); and the basic free Epocrates stuff.

In my opinion, I'd go with Skyscape and get the few programs that you feel are necessities. You also get credits with Skyscape that you can use towards future purchases.

As far as the storage card, I bought a 512mb card and saved ALL my nursing programs to it. BE CAREFUL though, I had everything on a SanDisk card and the card malfunctioned and I had to buy a new card and reload EVERYTHING again. After this happened, I read some pretty bad things on the web about SanDisk cards and how this has happened to many others. I have Lexar and PNY brand cards that have been good to me so far.

Hope this helps.

[Nemhain]

Originally Posted by loriann

I just bought a Tungsten E2 and had some questions after reading all the replies.

I see some people went to Skyscape and others have gone the Epocrates route. My question is, Do the people who purchased the Nursing Constellation package with Skyscape also need the Epocrates Essentials or are they really two different packaging systems that provide the same information.

Also, I bought a 256 MB card with my Palm. Should I put that card in when I download the programs I choose, or should I leave in the original card that came with the Palm?

I'm new to this, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Lori

Hi Lori! Epocrates and Skyscape's Nursing Constellation are two different systems and you really don't need both... Actually, does anyone need either? (Just for the record I have had Epocrates and now I have the Skyscape)

There are 4 programs I think are the absolute best, but they're from different companies: Davis' Drug Guide (I believe this is the best Drug guide out there for nurses!!! ...this is available in the Nursing Constellation, but is also available on it's own), Taber's Medical Encyclopedia, The Epocrates Dx (this is much more comprehensive than the "Add On" Diseases and Disorders from Skyscape that doesn't come in the Constellation), and the Nurse's Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests. Remember these can all be bought separately (I wish I had done that) and the full versions of Epocrates and Skyscape's Nursing Constellation both have their short comings.

You can down load them on the card, but if you lose the card then you're up poo creek with no paddle! The Tungsten E2 has 32MB of memory and the Nursing Constellation only takes up 8.5 MB and Epocrates takes up 7.6 MB. I highly recommend getting a medical dictionary such as Taber's and that takes up 15MB without pictures and 44MB with pics, so that may be one that you should put on your card.

I hope that covers it! If you need anymore clarification let me know!!!

[SFCardiacRN]

My PDA is a set of 3x5 cards with a hole punched in the corner and a snap ring. My hard drive is Eileen. She has 35+ years of nursing experience and knows EVERYTHING!!!

[CrabbyPatty]

Can I have one of those Eileen thingymaboppers to accompany me to clinicals? I certainly wouldn't need my PDA if I had one.

[CrabbyPatty]

BTW, I still use 3x5 cards on a ring for some stuff. Sometimes it's much easier to quiz myself in the car at a stoplight with those cards than to pull out my PDA and search for the right file

[briggswiss]

Hey gang... I'm surprised no one has mentioned PEPID that little program has everything! A full nursing reference I use it daily. pepid.com

[loriann]

Thanks for the replies everyone!! I really appreciate the help and will probably be asking questions again very soon as I get things going. Either that, or it's onto the 3X5 ring binder again

Lori

[4PsychRN]

but pepid is not free, we are talking about free software.

otherwise the best one is mobileMICROMEDEX but it costs money to register.