Digital Recorders for class! Help me pick one.

[Ex130Load]

"As for patient confidentiality...an instructor shouldn't be discussing a patient," I disagree with you here. This isn't criticism or meant to be argumentative. Nursing's about people/patients/clients and cases are brought up for discussion. I've seen it happen more times than I can remember, "The other day one of my students had an ulcer colitis..... Bob, what's the prognosis so far?" Often it just happens; students will bring up cases too. My understanding of JCAHO is that conversations involving patients is permissible among colleagues (that is us nurses) if it supports treatment, diagnosis, etc.

[Fun2, BSN, RN]

I'm not sure if this was to me or not, but I'm commenting..lol

I totally agree that the instructors will discuss patients. That is their job. However there are ears all around the classrooms, and names should not be said in audible tones. :)

"As for patient confidentiality...an instructor shouldn't be discussing a patient," I disagree with you here. This isn't criticism or meant to be argumentative. Nursing's about people/patients/clients and cases are brought up for discussion. I've seen it happen more times than I can remember, "The other day one of my students had an ulcer colitis..... Bob, what's the prognosis so far?" Often it just happens; students will bring up cases too. My understanding of JCAHO is that conversations involving patients is permissible among colleagues (that is us nurses) if it supports treatment, diagnosis, etc.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

I would like to purchase a good digital recorder that I can use during my classes. I would like to be able to download the lectures to my computer and burn them on CD. I've heard that some teachers don't like it when you record them, so some students put them in their bags and record --- so it'd have to be able to "hear" well. Please make some suggestions. :-)

Hi there! I used one for A&P mostly because the details of the systems, etc came too fast to take proper notes, but not for the regular nursing lectures (in my school, even the die-hard recorders gave that up quickly when it came to the core nursing lectures). So I used a voice-activated one for the year of science pre-requisites and sat in the front row, always. After that, no recording device.

As for the actual recording, it's considered good manners to just ask the instructor if it is alright to tape his/her lectures so that you can be sure you don't miss anything. I've never known any instructor to deny that request of any student, but they really do appreciate KNOWING you're taping (so that sometimes, if it gets silly or off-track, they can toss out the disclaimer "if someone's recording this, stop listening!" or whatever).

I suppose someone COULD say "no, don't tape the lecture", but I've never seen it happen (usually, they're pleased that you are taking the class seriously enough to do whatever you can to get all the information, even if they don't like the idea of the taping itself). And seeing that recorder sitting on the desk does keep the lecture moving along

[Ex130Load]

Fun2Care,

My last response regarding instructors discussing PTs was and wasn't directed at you. Yes, your opinion warranted a contrasting perspective. No, in that I just wanted others to consider a bigger perspective regarding when and or where colleagues can discuss PTs outside of the immediate clinical setting. Hope that makes sense.

Do you owe you a bit of an apology, didn't mean for my response to be so narrowly focused at you, "I disagree with you here"--too personal. After posting, I realized I'd meant to say in a little more generalized way, "I disagree with the idea..." etc. Tends to cause less people to feel attacked. Getting into minutiae at this point and way off the original posting thread.

At my school, classroom doors are always closed because we may discuss clinical situations with the term's/class' entire student rotation during theory lecture. Theory lecturers double as clinical instructors, common at other schools? Visitors don't just drop in as has happened in some prerequ classes--wives, kids, moms, etc. When we've had non-clinically related/relevant visitors, registrar's office personnel and kids because of babysitting issues for a particular day for example, instructors have been careful to remind everyone that we have visitors who don't need to hear certain aspects of clinical situations--names, room numbers, hospital names, etc. To my knowledge, we've not violated JCAHO standards. Just wanted to offer some insight regarding happenings at my school.

Back to the original thread posting, I had no idea that analogue tape recorders are so, almost... passe'--700+ minutes of digital recording time, folders, about the size of a remote control device, etc. Wow! Guess I need to stick my head out of the time warp more often. LOL

[GrnHonu99, RN]

ok so i just bought a dig voice recorder and let me tell you...lol...i returned three diff models before i settled on one!

I started off with a Panasonic US360, it worked well, it had three diff recording settings Standard play, fine qual and high qual...so on the box it said 8 hours of recording time...well that was 8 hours standard play which is barely audible...it had 2 hours and 20 mins of high qual and 4 hours of fine qual...i recorded on fine qual (the middle setting) and it worked great! the only problem was that my classes are usually from 8-4 so i needed more than 4 hours recording time. Other than that i loved it, it is soo small and has a little clip on the side..it so tiny!! also it is VERY easy to use..yo u dont even need the directions really....

i took that one back and got a sony...it said it had 538 minutes of top quality recording but it didnt lol...its top setting was like the low setting on the panasonic..so i returned that one....

then i got the next model up on the Panasonic the US380..much better...it has 4 hours and 50 mins top qual and 9 hours of fine qual...fine qual is perfect for my lectures..and 16 hrs of SP...if i twas a huge lecture and i was sitting way in the back id use the top setting...but im not usually in that big of a room.

Here is a pointer...go to http://www.circuitcity.com and look up digital voice recorders...they have reviews on there from people who actually bought them, i found that really helpful! also make sure you get one with a USB connection...i bought one that i had to return bc it didnt have that capability...

as for teachers at my school....i always get permission before i record and ive never had any that have had a problem with it...i would understand though if they said no...hey its their lecture so whatever they say:)

[gauge14iv, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

I got a sony that records 16 or 17 hours - LOVE it - I use it for dictation in clinicals too if I am in a setting where I am unable to use my PDA/keyboard or laptop. Now if I could just get my pharm prof to train my dragon naturally speaking software so that the notes of his lectures would type themselves!

I use dragon to dictate papers while I ride my bicycle (kills the exercise and write a paper birds with one stone) - it works well once you get used to it and get it trained

BIGGEST THING I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME ABOUT BEFORE NURSING SCHOOL!!!!!

****** ENDNOTE *******

http://www.endnote.com

This program writes your bilbio FOR you in APA, MLA or any other of hundreds of formats. When I am done wrting my paper, my bib is complete, in order and formatted and I dont have to do a single thing to it. It installs a module into word. It also downloads all your refs from ebsco or firstsearch complete with abstracts and you can plug in the PDF files of an article as well. No more digging, or hand typing of references!!! Once you learn to use this, you will never write another paper without it!

Oh and - I havn't had a single point deducted for APA format since I learned to use it!!!

[GrnHonu99, RN]

I got a sony that records 16 or 17 hours - LOVE it - I use it for dictation in clinicals too if I am in a setting where I am unable to use my PDA/keyboard or laptop. Now if I could just get my pharm prof to train my dragon naturally speaking software so that the notes of his lectures would type themselves!

I use dragon to dictate papers while I ride my bicycle (kills the exercise and write a paper birds with one stone) - it works well once you get used to it and get it trained

BIGGEST THING I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME ABOUT BEFORE NURSING SCHOOL!!!!!

****** ENDNOTE *******

http://www.endnote.com

This program writes your bilbio FOR you in APA, MLA or any other of hundreds of formats. When I am done wrting my paper, my bib is complete, in order and formatted and I dont have to do a single thing to it. It installs a module into word. It also downloads all your refs from ebsco or firstsearch complete with abstracts and you can plug in the PDF files of an article as well. No more digging, or hand typing of references!!! Once you learn to use this, you will never write another paper without it!

Oh and - I havn't had a single point deducted for APA format since I learned to use it!!!

OMG where have you been all my academic l ife??? i have a question...i just bought my dig voice recorder and i was trying to figure out if i could dictate something put it on my computer and have it typed up for me? is that possible did this 'dragon' software come with your digi voice rec? if not how can i get ahold of this software...i am soo busy these days and if i could dictate and have my software type it up and then have my bib done for me i could be a paper writing machiene!!!!! lol....

[Technotart]

You cant get dragon to type your notes unless you can take dragon in on your laptop and have your prof do a 15 min training session with the software - and even then - when you take into account all the noise and stuff - it just doesnt work well. Dragon Naturally speaking cost me about 49 bucks - it good, but it doesnt do medical terms realy well - for that you have to add on a 600.00 package LOL.

YOU can record and make the software listen and type YOUR voice....the profs voice would have to be set up ander another profile.

It works fine for letting me talk instead of type so I can read passages from books and stuff or quote from articles.

I don't use it as much as I use EndNote though - that program is my right arm! I didnt find out about it until 2 years ago - and I had a prof tell me there was no way to get through grad school without it. Some schools even require you to use it, my school acts like they have never heard of it!

If you get it, I have a couple of tips to share on APA - so PM me if you want that info.

[GrnHonu99, RN]

You cant get dragon to type your notes unless you can take dragon in on your laptop and have your prof do a 15 min training session with the software - and even then - when you take into account all the noise and stuff - it just doesnt work well. Dragon Naturally speaking cost me about 49 bucks - it good, but it doesnt do medical terms realy well - for that you have to add on a 600.00 package LOL.

YOU can record and make the software listen and type YOUR voice....the profs voice would have to be set up ander another profile.

It works fine for letting me talk instead of type so I can read passages from books and stuff or quote from articles.

I don't use it as much as I use EndNote though - that program is my right arm! I didnt find out about it until 2 years ago - and I had a prof tell me there was no way to get through grad school without it. Some schools even require you to use it, my school acts like they have never heard of it!

If you get it, I have a couple of tips to share on APA - so PM me if you want that info.

i checked into it but i think it costs 100$ it is def worth it but i will need to wait till i get 100$ lol...

[kkx81]

I bought myself a digital recorder also for my classes. Whats great about the SONY Digital Voice Recorder is that I can record hours and hours of stuff and then transfer it onto my computer and then it'll write/type everything that was said. That way, you don't have to type anything. It does it all for you. It might be pricy at first, but it's well worth the investment.

SONY Digital Voice Recorder

[Technotart]

I bought myself a digital recorder also for my classes. Whats great about the SONY Digital Voice Recorder is that I can record hours and hours of stuff and then transfer it onto my computer and then it'll write/type everything that was said. That way, you don't have to type anything. It does it all for you. It might be pricy at first, but it's well worth the investment.

SONY Digital Voice Recorder

What software are you using to make it type your notes? I havnt been able to successfully do this with any level of accuracy.

[GrnHonu99, RN]

me either, i couldnt find any that even came with that software...