Ipad and FNP school!

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I am starting NP school this fall and was thinking about getting an iPad mini during no tax weekend.

My question is how much do you actually use the iPad for coursework before clinicals?

I am just contemplating if I need to go ahead and purchase or if I should wait as they may release a

new version of the mini next year.

Thanks for any input!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I use mine all the time but I'm a practicing APRN. I would have used it in school but probably would have used it to load ybooks on it so I could read when I had a few minutes here and there. Not for writing paper though or anything like that.

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I am in a hybrid program. The Ipad is GREAT since it allows me to look at my classwork (powerpoints, etc) and submit discussion board posts on the go. Some people use it in clinical, but I feel that it would be too much to carry around, so I stick to my phone for that. I used it to organize my study guides, look up information I didn't understand, and see pictures in beautiful color. I use it more than my textbooks. I still buy my books, since I don't like to read in depth stuff on the screen. Too much eye strain. But overall, I love it. Wish I had it in my undergrad, as well.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Well my program required that we have an iDevice, I choose an Ipad, but then all of the online materials are in flash, so none of them show up on the ipad :(. I had talked to the IT folks before I bought the ipad and asked if I could use an android tablet and they said it would not work and would not be supported and gave every excuse in the book. Now I know it would work better than an ipad but I'm not gonna get another device, I'll just use the desktop for most of the online stuff, and use the ipad for facebook and other correspondence with my classmates... I guess the real answer is you will have to look at what the school you are attending uses for their classroom materials and make sure its compatible with the ipad before you buy.

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What program are you in?

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Specializes in FNP.

I had an ipod touch and it was priceless. I used the apps, was able to access things with wifi, logged clinical hours, did some research when requested by my preceptor if we had downtime (especially since computers at the clinic were at a premium). Fits in a pocket like the iphone (which I upgraded to my last semester)... for practice, though, I'd move up to a mini (on my 'to do' list)

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I have am Ipad mini and it's the best of both worlds, small enough to fit in a lab jacket pocket (though it's a little bulky) but big enough to read and type on comfortably.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

I use an iPad Mini daily in practice. Indont think it would have been as helpful as a laptop + smartphone in school.

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Tele/Cardiac, Camp.

I have an adroid phone with some great apps (epocrates for instance), but this year we are also required to have ipads. Our school is basically "providing" them to us with a reduced cost to us, but we need to have them. The main reason for this is because the campus is switching to a "textbook free" campus so the vast majority of our reading will be online/downloadable documents. I'm kind of annoyed by it, but I imagine that having both an ipad and a smartphone during my clinicals and when I'm in practice will probably be of huge benefit to me.

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Specializes in medical ICU, Psych, Adult NP, addictions.

I think my ipad and I phone are great tools with school, they are bountiful resources when you need to look something up.

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Specializes in Pain Management, RN experience was in ER.

I'm only 25 years old. Yet, when I was in nursing school, I was the "cool kid" because I had a palm pilot to load my drug books onto! A year later, out comes the first iPhone! Technology is crazy. I still have that PDA...

I used my iPad in FNP school to use at clinical sites that did not have internet. I loaded up Typhon and tried to enter case notes as I went along. I bought the keyboard to go with it so that I could type faster. I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. However, the iPhone is priceless when loaded up with a paid subscription to Epocrates.

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Get it! No brainer. iPad saved me through clinicals as well! Plus, I could bring the tool easily in and out of the room for patient ed.

Also, get iAnnotate on it for lectures (with a stylus)... then a slew of the diagnostics tools. There is a good list of apps to grab on NP Student (Resource Recommendations - NP Student - Pediatric Provider Resources). The Stanford 25 and Murmur thing is pretty great.... then that site itself is good for peds, too.

Hrmmm... trying to think what else. Being able to record the lectures on it was great :wacky:

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