Palm Pilots in Nursing School?

jen012 · Apr 21, 2008

Hi...Im starting nursing school this fall and I had the same questions as you. I actually just purchased a Palm T/X. Allnurses actually has a forum dedicated to PDA's....it is really helpful! If you go to the top and go to forums and then scroll down you will see it. Hope this helps!

Kitty Hawk, ADN, RN · Apr 21, 2008

I have the palm tungsten E2. I think there are newer versions though

Let's just say I have a love/hate r'ship w/it!

It's very cool, I use it mostly for Taber's and Davis drug guide. My school is archaic though and no one really has one, so they still expect the "books" to be brought to clinical.

I honestly don't use the lab360 or other stuff that came with the nursing constellation pkg...maybe if I had time to sit down and figure out how to use all that! :chuckle

Mostly what I use it for is when I'm reading and need to look up a term or clarification it's great for that instead of leafing through the Taber's.

Honestly I could probably do w/o it but it's a cool toy. I have over 400.00 invested in it though wtih skyskape. It'll probably be much more useful when I'm an RN..as a student eh...take it or leave it.

My digital recorder though, that thing is indispensible.

mbb21 · Apr 21, 2008

I have the palm tungsten E2.

That's the one I was thinking about getting! The salesman at the electronic store said a lot of nurses and students have it... But it's just so expensive :uhoh3: ! I'll take what you said into consideration though!:nuke: Thanks a lot!

mbb21 · Apr 21, 2008

One more thing... What kind of voice recorder do you have? That's another thing I've gotta get!

Kitty Hawk, ADN, RN · Apr 22, 2008

One more thing... What kind of voice recorder do you have? That's another thing I've gotta get!

I have the Olympus DS-30 and that thing is wonderful! I had friends in class who had the less expensive models, one went through all 3 of them, and still ended up with the DS-30 b/c she couldn't get good enough clarity on the other ones. I think that depends on what kind of room you're dealing with though.

Features that I really like are the 5 diff files there's a voice filter and noise cancel, one used with recording the other with playback and it has lecture and conference settings, but the thing I like the most is the index feature where during lecture, you can hit the button and it sets an index that you can later fast forward right to that spot. I believe you can also hook it to a pc and download files there to listen to, but as you prob guessed, haven't gotten around to figuring that out either! That reminds me of some gizmo that's supposed to be out there that can type out what's been recorded if that's true, I want to look into that anything to save some time!

So for now anyway, with my schedule and short commute, I really don't get the chance to go back and listen in it's entirety, but I find that I'm much more relaxed during lecture b/c if something is going too fast or I need to clarify something in my notes, I can just hit the button, make a note what the index number is, and I'm good to go! :smokin:

However I would had preferred a less expensive model that just recorded and didn't have the bells and whistles like mp3...however they don't exist I guess everyone wants the extras. However all said and done, it's not *that* much more exp than the other ones and I'm very happy with it.

If for nothing else I find it's worth it for the peace of mind that I can relax during lecture.

Oh and if you do get it I HIGHLY recommend the rechargable batteries, I have the set of 4 and it's great b/c also have a set on me...this thing was eating batteries!

HTH

nursein08 · Apr 22, 2008

I have the Palm T/X and love it! It has proved to be very helpful in clinical. I use it mostly for the drug guide, but I also have nursing procedures on it. That came in handy when I needed to insert an NG tube and hadn't touched one since skills check off in lab. The people in my clinical group that don't have one also love mine! The Mosby lab values are also very helpful. I don't carry any of my books anymore because everything is in my PDA. It is just way more convenient.

But that's just my 2 cents. :twocents:

twinkerrs · Apr 22, 2008

I have a tungsten e2 and I love it. I use my drug guide and the labs program. I also bought an IV drug book for it. I dont have to carry a two ton bag to clinicals and it is so much faster to have all of that info in my pocket.

Gauge · Apr 22, 2008

I have a Palm T|X and it has helped me my first year of nursing school. It saves time if a patient has a question regarding a drug or if I forget something.

Flames9_RN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 22, 2008

http://www.epocrates.com/ Some free downloads!!

Kiringat · Apr 22, 2008

I had to buy a Tungtsten T2 for my program. I love it. Mostly cause I splurged on Saunder's Drug Guide for it, and also have a handy lab value/math program. I also like the notepad function, as I can write vitals and other notes on it, and not have to deal with paper; losing it, HIPPA, etc. Its also handy as an MP3 player and as an NCLEX practice tool. And it's soooo much easier to haul around than 25 pounds of books!

MnemonicFanatic · Apr 23, 2008

I use the Olympus digital recorder, and I LOVE IT!!!

*its got so many files to record in...

*you can download it directly to your computer (works just like a memory stick- you plug it in, it has the programs already on it...first time, your computer will have to 'recognize' it, but no problems with downloading!)

*you can burn the lectures onto a disc to listen to later(just remember to save the files as music file rather than a data file)

*they are small, lightweight, and you can record a whole lecture as its given...don't have to worry about changing cassettes, or losing the cassettes once you've recorded...

drawbacks- they go through batteries like no-one's business. remember to carry a few extra 'AAA's with you, just in case.

You also have to either erase or download the lectures-there is only about 8 hrs or so available on the recorder.