Nursing Students General Students
Published Apr 5, 2006
LSUNursingStudent
2 Posts
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
RN and Mommy
401 Posts
I graduate soon and have survived Nursing School without one...but hey, if your parents want to buy you one...why not?
MereSanity
412 Posts
Need one? 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:
Nikkik163
71 Posts
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.
cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN
4,106 Posts
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.
WickedRedRN, BSN, RN
609 Posts
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.
Cowboys_RN, BSN
169 Posts
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.
Fun2, BSN, RN
5,586 Posts
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.
Good luck to you!:balloons:
debblynn13
154 Posts
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
Guitar_Heroine
106 Posts
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
youknowho
470 Posts
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.
KrysyRN, BSN
288 Posts
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.[/quoteI am curious why they are HIPPA violations??
I am curious why they are HIPPA violations??