Drug book survey for new grads

Sarah8714 · Aug 21, 2004

If you are very comfortable using your PDA than I would use it. One of my clinical instructors used hers and my PA uses hers all the time.

Initially, I had a Palm Pilot and was able to use Epocrates to look up all my drugs. My husband is a guru on all this techno stuff and upgraded mine to Pocket PC (Dell Axim 5) which I thought was too big to carry and did not want to pay $50 for the program, ePocrates is not free for PPC. Also, my other clinical instructor wanted to look at your book if you have a question so I was carrying both of them for awhile. Now I have another one which is an HP IPAQ but the memory is not the best for those kind of programs - they take up a lot of space. When I get my RN soon, and start making some real money.... I plan to purchase a good software program and a PPC that has enough memory to hold all my stuff in it. :)

If you have it, use it!!!!

CDN_NPtobe · Aug 31, 2004

I actually found that by purchasing a palm pilot (I got a Tungsten E for about $200) it saved me a lot of money since I didn't need to purchase new drug books every year. I use Epocrates, which is free for PDAs with the Palm OS and find it thorough enough that I rarely have to use any other resource. I like having it always available in my pocket as well, and not having to search for my drug book. For supplement, our Pyxis also has a drug book built into it, and if I ned to, I can look up specific drugs in the IV drug book we have in our med room. Aside from specifics of IV administration, Epocrates has met my drug book needs very well.

youngRNstudent · Sep 17, 2004

I use the Dell Axim Pocket PC and bought that $50 drug book Sarah8714 was talking about. I find it to be VERY convienient compared to flipping though a book. Use whatever you are comfortable with. The electronic way seems to be faster. Plus you can get free updates when new versions of the Drug Guide come out.

Larry77, RN · Sep 18, 2004

I love my palm pilot!!! Everyone who doesn't have one drools over it...even staff nurses. I have Taber's, Davis Drug Guide, RN Fast facts, RN Assess, ABC Labs, and I even installed a Dictionary and Thesaures because I can't spell worth a darn. Plus I use it for my schedule. I haven't used the MP3 player or internet, so I think I could have gotten by with one that was cheaper than the Tungsten T3 that I purchased...but it has been very worth the $320.00 I paid for it.