For PDAing RN's

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Hello & Good Day All,

I am a CNA on a ICU and in school to become a RN. Myself and a few of the RN's & Doc's are all PDA users (mainly Palm's). I am looking for a common program for the RN's at least to help with both Report and Recording our shifts work. Currently I have Handbase set up with a program called Ward(?) that I am modifying to meet our needs.

What I would like to find out from others (no matter your area) is what are the features you need? And would a program like this be more valuable for giving/rec report or tracking your shift actions?

Currently the program has:

Name, Bed, Sex/Age/Code Status, Dr./Service, DateAdmit,Allergies,Isolation,Dx,Hx,

Progress(this is a timestamped log of what you did thru your shift to help with your charting)

ToDo(this is a alarmed to do list to set times for baths/meds/labs/calls)

Vitals (this is a timestamped area to track all vitals thru the shift for charting)

Meds(this is a timestamped area to track meds given)

Neuro,Resp, Accu ck,CV,IV sites/status(for tracking IV sites and needed changes), IVF (to track running/pending, rate, dose working on a calc function), GI, GU, Musc/Skel, Skin, Pain, Notes, MR#

It can print to an IR capable printer (I am ordering an adapter for ours) or you can beam report to the next shift.

All thoughts & input welcome and of course I would be happy to email the prototype (under constant change) to anyone who would like to play with it.

In addition has anyone found a good program for checking the compatibility of multiple IV drugs? I don't mean the basic compatibility that epocrates has, but something that if I am running 5 pumps and suddenly I need to give ameo I need to check what I can run it with.

Thanks for getting through this long a message :)

Enjoy,

1 leg lance

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

1 Leg Lance,

I haven't heard of this software before - can you point me in the right direction to get more info on it?

Thanks much,

Leigh

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Well it is kind of a tweaked thing where I took someone esles program and am working it over :)

First go to http://www.handbase.com and download the trial version you need (I use handbase plus for Palm OS) and then go to the gallery of free software and under medical look at the bottom for

WardMemo 1.0. This the program I started with and who knows but you might like it better (had lots of stuff we figured we didn't need like tracking imaging and stuff).

The gallery is filled with tons and tons of free database stuff for lots of areas you can use in life. Also there are many medical related things you might like.

Lastly email me at 1leg AT mail DOT com and I will try to send you what I have worked up. It is under constand change so until I am happy then you might get an update a week :)

Remember we are a Med/Surg ICU so I tweaking it for that, however I will say that handbase is very easy to use and soon you will customize things to meet your needs.

Enjoy,

1 leg lance

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Although I am a computer fanatic, I have never used a PDA. Could you please tell me more how they work? Charting is a major problem for me, especially on busy days. I end up with paper towels, sticky notes, etc. lined up when I try to get the charts done. This sounds like it would be great!

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I use a PDA, but that almost sounds like more work than it's worth, considering how busy I am throughout my shift.

Would be easier to have a portable voice recorder to pass off. And, I'm one of the very few people who tend to use a pda.

What do you forsee as your time dedication to this type of reporting, versus normal writing? And, what if your pda craps out? I just tape paper to my desk and keep track of everything on it....

Not trying to rain on your parade, and it sounds really neat, just wondering if it's worth the effort?

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I agree completely that using my Palm in this manner may be more trouble than it is worth...

We all understand the value of looking up drugs, nursing diag., reference material, and things like that but I am trying to get full value out of the tech...

Here is what we are currently doing....

Using the notepad like sticky notes for things just done or to be charted, and adding an alarm if it is a todo.

Using the adrs book to keep info on various dept. & drs. this is easier than looking around for the info (we are a teaching hospt with lots of folks to call).

Here is what we are trying to do.....

Replace that piece of paper you use when taking report (we are 1:1 reporting and usually w/ 2 pt per RN)

Replace all the various pcs of paper we all use to writing down the shift info, vitals, meds, dr #'s, family and all that stuff we have to remember to chart.

Make reporting easier by either beaming the info to the next RN who can look it over as we talk or beaming to a printer and handing that paper to the next RN. This will speed up reports (not waiting while the other writes) and elim any errors (person writing the wrong thing or not writing it at all).

Since most of us work 3 consecutive days you would only need to add updated info, not write a whole new paper :)

Those of us with PDA's are working on the program together and agree to use it if it works out (that is how we will be able to beam to each other).

Again I agree that this might not work out but we enjoying the process.

I would like to hear from RN's about what abilites and features would be most useful in something like this. Many minds better than a few :)

Enjoy,

1 leg lance

P.S. I would still like to hear if anyone has found a good program to check IV compatibility of drugs, so we can make sure we can add a med into a certain line.

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That's exactly how we do report. 2-3 patients at the most, usually working 3 in a row, and we're also a teaching facility.... however, we don't practice very good continuity of care, since we have a lot of newer RNs, we have to assign the experienced nurses to the more difficult patients....

I think it sounds really interesting.....and I'm all about advancing my practice to include more technology.....

Now my next question would be in regards to hippa.... would beaming patient information from pda to pda be acceptable, if they were personal pdas... where information could be taken home and shared on accident?

I think the alarm feature for tasks to be done would be very helpful for a lot of people.

Good luck in your endeavor.

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We are talking with risk mgnmt on HIPPA and so far if we add a sec feature (like password that auto sets qd) then seems ok...

Here is a neat trick for palm users..

When using notepad to scribble a quick note just tap that little space above the scroll bar on the rt. and an alarm set window will auto appear...pretty cool!

There is another program for alarmed notes I like called BugMe that works very well if you need a reoccuring alarm or want to set something for jsut a few minutes ahead. I like it alot.

Enjoy,

1 leg lance

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On the general subject of PDAs in healthcare I am one of those people who doens't understand why everyone isn't using one :)

If you have something other than a Palm C or T there is a great program by http://www.kathywhite.com that will do a ton of stuff like look up drugs and help calc rates.

I use my PDA for everything from groc list /email/reading ebooks / healthcare/photo album/flashlight/load mapquest maps/contacts/calndr/blah blah blah and everything else inbtwn.

Like all tools you have to learn to make the most of it and make it serve you, however I often wonder who is in charge :)

Enjoy,

1 leg lance

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Specializes in Emergency.

hey, I understand what you are trying to do, and it would likely work, if everyone was interested in using it on your unit, and pdas were supplied. I agree though, sometimes I have info wrote on a glove, paper, etc, and shoved in my pocket, cuz i don't even have time to open my pda.

Also, if you download "pda toolbox", it is a great start to creating "your own" pda programs.

I'm using Palm os 4.1, and would love to check out what you've done so far with your prog. Sorry, haven't come across a good IV compatability prog yet, but if you do, please let me know.

I saw the kathy white site you suggested, and here are some free ones that i use now.

http://epocrates.com epocrates*******

http://infiniq.com Bayer Critical Care Guide

http://acheilshopping.com.br/villanova 1st aid and emergencies version 1.3

http://medicalwizards.com ER Suite

http://Rnpalm.com Glasgow Coma scale

http://fppda.com peds calc***********

http://go.to/mednotes

ACLS 2001

Active ECG

ICU Math

RSI*****

Diagnosaurus, by CogniQ and Roni F. Zeigler, MD(sorry some of the above don't include a link to the site in the program, which also means no tech support, but most can be

found online by doing some searching)

Best of luck!!! Jenni

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Originally posted by 1 Leg Lance

First go to http://www.handbase.com and download the trial version you need (I use handbase plus for Palm OS) and then go to the gallery of free software and under medical look at the bottom for WardMemo 1.0.

Hmmm...is it just me, or is this link/site broken?

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