Need advise on purchase of a PDA for Clinicals

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  1. This is a discussion on Need advise on purchase of a PDA for Clinicals in Mobile Apps For Nurses, part of General Nursing ... Hi everyone, I would like your advise on the purchase of a PDA for use in my nursing clinicals. ...

    by Jul 10, '06
    Hi everyone,

    I would like your advise on the purchase of a PDA for use in my nursing clinicals.

    A quick review of PDAs posted on this forum seems to recommend one of the following:

    Palm T/X and Tungsten E2 (up to 4 Gb)
    HP IPAQ (32 Mb and 256 Mb)
    Dell Axim V51 (?)

    I have also investigated software everyone recommended, each having varying technical requirements for processing speed and storage. Here are my preliminary functional requirements and I would like to get your input on which of the above PDAs might be best suited to meeting these requirements.

    1) I do NOT want or need phone capabilities nor camera functionality. Camera functionality may be "banned" by the hospital due to HIPPA. Phone is not needed because I already have a cell phone and would not be using that while I am on the floors with patients. Most importantly, I do not want to be distracted.

    2) I DO want to be able to download the software onto my laptop as well as the PDA to offer flexibility and backup capabilities. My laptop runs Windows XP, so I am thinking that the Windows Mobile OS would be more "user friendly" for this purpose (same operating environment, minimal learning curve).

    3) I do NOT need email access.

    4) I DO want internet access and I DO want to connect to my home wireless network (including all resources such as laptop hard drive and printer). Can I use WI-FI to connect to the internet as well as my home wireless network? Or, do I also need Bluetooth?

    5) I DO want to be able to run the software on both laptop and PDA. This may be more a function of the software rather than the PDA - but I would like your opinion on ease of transfer from PDA to laptop and vice-versa.

    I would like to use the PDA at the hospital to look up information while I am reviewing charts and make notes (preferably in MS Word). Then I can "sync" this information with my laptop at home. By having the capability to sync with my laptop, I would like to finish writing my care plans on my laptop (bigger screen) and print them before turning in to the Prof. I THINK I need Bluetooth in order to do this? Wi-Fi is not enough?

    Thank you for any input you may have.
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    by FLStudentNurse Jul 10, '06 8:14 am
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  3. 2 Comments so far...

  4. Jul 10, '06 by
    When decding what PDA to get, the first and most important decision is to decide on what operating system, Palm or Windows Mobile. Once this decision is made, it will be asier to decide on the model. I am very biased in this decision, so will keep my two cents worth out of the discussion.

    In regards to bluetooth and wifi, take a looka the bluetooth wifi discussion that is this forum. We covered the basics of what is meant by these connection methods. To summarize, you really would not be using bluetooth in a hospital setting.

    Hope this helps a little
    MD
  5. Jul 10, '06 by
    Thank you! I will take a look at that posting. I must have missed it earlier. There is ALOT of good information out here.