[Lemur]

I have scoured these posts, and here's what I think I am going to get:

Davis's Drug Guide
Taber's Med Dictionary
Nurse's Manual of Lab and Dx Tests

For a grand total of $123.97

OR I could get:

Nursing Constellation (which includes Davis's and "Labs 360")
Taber's Med Dictionary

For a grand total of $129.91


So which? I'm thinking there are a lot of things in the constellation that I will not use. But is it great to have? PLEASE HELP! For some reason I cannot make this decision on my own! No one in my class has a PDA, so I've no one else to ask! Thanks for your time -

L.

PS I am in an ADN program, about to finish my 2nd semester and have another year to go.

[Boston-RN]

I started with those three in my first semester. The 2 programs I added during school which came in handy were a nursing diagnosis program and the disease check (for the nursing care plans and disease cards we had to do) otherwise those are really all you need for school.

[fragino]

During clinicals I've only used Tabers and Davis.

I would go with Skyscape because you get the desktop version with the PDA version. It comes in really handy when you're writing your reports and careplans.

[MollyMel]

I have the Pepid bundle, and I am considering buying Tabers from Skyscape. The pepid bundle comes with Stedman's dictionary which I am less than happy with (for example: it will say "Zoonotic: relating to a zoonosis", but is there an entry for zoonosis? noooo)
Anyway, Tabers looks great (I've been using the demo), also I have the pepid drug guide but like Davis one more (mostly it is about the interface, I think the Davis one is nicer).
Obviously a lab values program is essential. Those three are the basics that you need.

The main thing you would get with constellation is the RNnotes. I think it is similar to the pepid program (from the demo). As a student I do like being able to look up conditions etc., just having a mini textbook in my pocket.

My question is: how much do other students or nurses use the RNotes? (or MedSurgNotes - although I'm not sure the difference between the two...)

For 6$ more I might get the bundle, It's not like they take up that much space, I have a 2Gb card that I put everything on and I haven't even made a dent.
Sorry for the non-committal answer :-) Have you tried the demos to see which program you like best and are most comfortable with?