PDA in the ER

Specialties Emergency

Published

How many of your use PDAs in the ER? How has it been helpful to you?

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Primarily I use the Epocrates Drug program. It's a life saver. Also, Davis' IV drug program. Also Pepid for nurses has alot of valuable information.

Also, the calendar program is nice for keeping track of your schedule.

Our ED has standing protocols that I entered into the PDA, so if I have a brain fart, I can quickly refer to the protocols.

I call my PDA my brain extension or my Hard Drive.

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never go to work without it.

my most used programs are davis drug and davis IV drug. i use epocrates for the pediatric dosing.

and i wouldn't know when to go to work if it weren't for my pda calendar.

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How many of your use PDAs in the ER? How has it been helpful to you?

LOL! On a light note...I thought by PDA you meant Public Displays of Affection!! :chuckle

Can't u tell I'm a new nurse!!! :rotfl:

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LOL! On a light note...I thought by PDA you meant Public Displays of Affection!! :chuckle

Can't u tell I'm a new nurse!!! :rotfl:

Well, I'm an OLD nurse and I want to know what a PDA IS, please.

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PDA = Personal Data Assistant, e.g. palm pilot.

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I can't live without mine - calendar for knowing when to work, Davis' drug guide & IV med guide are invaluable. Taber's for when you get a patient with an obscure condition and you need to see if it relates to presenting symptoms (I just looked up Sweet's disease AKA: Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis)

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Specializes in ER/SURGICAL ICU/PACU/MEDICAL ICU.
I can't live without mine - calendar for knowing when to work, Davis' drug guide & IV med guide are invaluable. Taber's for when you get a patient with an obscure condition and you need to see if it relates to presenting symptoms (I just looked up Sweet's disease AKA: Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis the other day!)

What are the best PDA's to get? Can you guys recommend some of the PDA's mainly used by most nurses?

Thanks a bunch..

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Specializes in Newborn ICU, Trauma ICU, Burn ICU, Peds.
How many of your use PDAs in the ER? How has it been helpful to you?

I have yet to find a reason to purchase one. Perhaps you have given me a couple of them. Yet I would find it difficult to justify spending $250+ to have a drug reference that I can open in hard copy while I am retrieving my meds.

Now the calendar thing...but then again, those little free ones from Hallmark have served me well since I was about 12 yrs old.

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What are the best PDA's to get? Can you guys recommend some of the PDA's mainly used by most nurses?

Thanks a bunch..

I use a pocket pc (a toshiba e750), it's a little old now but still great) and I use the nursing constellation from skyscape.com. My brother, also an ED nurse just bought an HP (not sure which one) and can't believe he went this long without it. Some people swear by Palm instead of PocketPC, I like using a windows based because a) i'm familiar with the operating system b) it uses the Outlook calendar/planner, which i was already using and c) they tend to be cheaper than palms.

i edited the above links - they work now :)

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I have yet to find a reason to purchase one. Perhaps you have given me a couple of them. Yet I would find it difficult to justify spending $250+ to have a drug reference that I can open in hard copy while I am retrieving my meds.

Now the calendar thing...but then again, those little free ones from Hallmark have served me well since I was about 12 yrs old.

The amount of information available in my PDA would fill a backback if it were paper texts/reference books. It's nice to have the data at my fingertips when i need it. I also have other software like ACLS quizzes, my own

Word and Excel documents for quick reference, I download articles from Emergency nursing journals instead of printing them out (using adobe acrobat to view/read any PDF file). It's also an MP3 player, has Wifi for checking my email and surfing the net when I'm not at home. I have a foldout keyboard so it doubles as a laptop for taking notes at conferences/classes etc. It's much more than an electronic drug guide! :)

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could'nt live without it, serves as my second brain when mine is on overdrive

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