PDA's in nursing school

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i will be starting the second career accelerated nursing program at the university of michigan in the fall. they are not requiring us to purchase a pda but said that we could get one of any kind of we wanted to.

do you think they are worth getting? if so, what kind do you recommend and what software do you recommend?

thanks!

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

Our program gave us a PDA (Palm TX) when we first started. Well, I take that back, our "class fee" paid for them, but we didnt have a choice in the matter.

We all hated them. I've since upgraded my phone to a BlackBerry and I transferred all my nursing software to that. Other students have done the same, or have started to use their iPhones or iTouch.

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic.

You don't need one by any means, but I've really enjoyed having my Palm T|X during clinical. It has a nice calculator on there that converts all types of weights and measurements. You can take notes with it. As far as nursing software goes, a good drug guide and lab reference program might come in handy. I have the PDA version of Davis Drug Guide for Nurses. It's helped me out when I've come to the hospital after writing up my patient's only to see that they went home! I've been able to quickly get the information I need for my new patients with my PDA! The lab/diagonstic tests programs are kinda nice, in case you come across a lab test that you are unfamiliar with. I currently work as a lab assistant while in school and I'm very comfortable with most lab results, but there are been many occassions where my PDA helped me get a better understanding of how those results relate to my patient. There are alot of packages from Skyscape that are pretty good.

It boils down to the type of person/student you are. If you like computers, a PDA will probably be helpful. Many of the students in my cohort despise electronics, and did very well with just using reference books.

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

ditto on Davis Drug Guide. I love it!

http://www.skyscape.com

There are so many programs/books to chose from and they are all reasonably priced, IMO. And most are compatible with many of the smart phones (BlackBerry, iPhone etc) as well as the traditional PDAs.

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