Palm PDA or Pocket PC

[rncarolyn]

I would like to buy a Palm PDA or a Pocket PC, but I'm not sure which is better or which I would benefit more with. I wanna spend the most $499. One of the doctor's suggested a Pocket PC, and he mentioned getting a certain software, but i forgot which one. I'm a brand new grand working in the NICU. Any suggestions would be great!

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

To be honest with you, there isn't a single nurse on our unit that uses one. Some of the docs do, and you can tell how dependent they become on them. They can't remember anything because they always have the palm to go to when they need information. It's a lot like how you program your phone with everyone's numbers - and then when you don't have the phone, you can't remember the number because all you ever did was pull up their name and it automatically dialed. Same thing with the info you would put in your palm.

Plus, it's a really easy to have something like that stolen.

Just my opinion.

[Brickman]

I have a Palm PDA and I use it for games, MP3 player, and phone(it is a treo 650). But I have to say that I think they are pretty useless on the floor. Drugs and diagnoses can be looked up just as fast on the INTERNET, with more complete information. One thing to consider is that every unit or floor seems to have a core group of drugs that are given to most of the patients. Once you have worked a few months the whole looking up of drugs becomes an occasional thing instead of an every day every patient thing. I do think a PDA is most useful during nursing school, I know I used mine then.

If you still want to get one then Palm has the most free medical software and any model will suit. I believe the TE is $199 and will be sufficient for just about anything.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

I have a palm Tungsten T5....Its pretty good, and there are loads of free programs that I use. However it's kind of bulky/heavy, I'm afraid of it getting stolen, and its usually quicker to grab one of the units neofaxes and look it up.

[sparkyRN]

I'd suggest you save your money right now. It's just one more thing to keep up with. Nearly all the info you will need will be on your unit. It may take a little more time to look drugs and lab values up the old fashion way, but you may be more likely to remember them if you don't have a gadget to fall back on. As mentioned before, nearly everything can be found on the internet too. That's just my opinion, but I am sort of a dinosaur!