Do I really Need one of these??

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Hello ,

I'm a first year nursing student. Fundamentals is almost over. YAY!! But next semester i start Med Surg 1 and Psych. My question is this. What about purchasing a palm pilot. My parents offered to buy me one for classes but i cant decide if i would actually use it. A friend of mine also in fundamentals recently picked one up and bought a program to go with it that has has every resource you could imagine. Davis drug guide, drug calculations for switching between units, its amazing but will i get my money's worth out it? Thats the question.

Jay

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Specializes in Ortho/Neuro.

I graduate soon and have survived Nursing School without one...but hey, if your parents want to buy you one...why not?

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Specializes in Operating room..

Need one? :confused: Probably not...but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, mine! :loveya: I have all my meds easy access, along with a dictionary, and a few of my nursing books. Not to mention internet access, and a few mindless games for when I'm bored. AND, I have a keyboard (bought that extra), and type all my lectures just like a PC. :behindpc:

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No you do not NEED one. I am almost done with my second semester and have survived just fine without one. However, if your parents are willing to buy it for you then I would probably get it.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I have a really awesome PDA, but I never used one in clinicals. I have enough junk in my pockets! I can't imagine why you would need it, though. If there is a calcualtion to be done, I had to do it on paper, and if I needed to look it up, I just used the drug books on the floor.

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.

I have one, LOVE mine, have Davis Drug guide, diagnostic and lab tests with values, a grade and assignment tracker, nursing proceedures and tabers on mine. I use it all the time in school, but unfortunatlely, I cannot take it to clincical, my school calls them HIPPA violations. *sigh* So, I lug a million pounds of books to clinical.

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Specializes in Hospice, Internal Medicine.

My mom bought me one before I started Nursing school and I've never used it. I might start using it to look up drugs now that we no longer do prep work the night before. I would wait until you start clinical and see if you really need it.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

:eek: If your parents are offering to purchase one for you....let them.

Soon you'll be a nurse and making your own money. Gifts from mom and dad will be few and far between. :lol2:

Good luck to you!:balloons:

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I got one when I started and my clinical instructors were so impressed that the school bought ones for each of the clinical instructors the next term. I used the free Epocrates program for my drugs, have a lab book, tabers dictionary and a nursing procedures program on it. It is a lot easier to drag it to clincial than 4 books. I can look up a drug on my pda before most people can get the book out. Not to mention the fact that my epocrates program can be updated with new drugs every time I connect it to the computer. Do you need one, no. But if you enjoy using computers then I think you would love the ease of a pda.

I still do my patient assessments on paper tho and take lots of paper notes. My Pda is mainly a reference guide.

Debblynn

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Specializes in Med-surg.

I put a lot of money into one when I started nursing school. Got all the refereneces and everything. And honestly, I could do without it. I barely use it. We do prep before our patients so we already know the drugs and have our notes printed out. And I have my patient sheets with me that I write info on... I mean it's handy, but it's not like a drug guide is ever hard to get ahold of. And you learn them so fast anyway. For me it's just another thing I'd rather not carry in my scrubs pockets

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I love my Treo and cant imagine clinicals without it (references for work and solitare for breaks;))! Its soooo wonderful. I purchased Nursing Constellation from skyscape.com which has a drug book, RN notes, Lab Values and something else I forgot. I did fine last semester in clinicals without it but carrying around a big book is a drag.

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I have one, LOVE mine, have Davis Drug guide, diagnostic and lab tests with values, a grade and assignment tracker, nursing proceedures and tabers on mine. I use it all the time in school, but unfortunatlely, I cannot take it to clincical, my school calls them HIPPA violations. *sigh* So, I lug a million pounds of books to clinical.[/quote

I am curious why they are HIPPA violations??

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