Over the past few years, the Personal Digital Assistant has emerged above other hi-tech devices to restructure medical practice and training norms.
Students and doctors alike can access a vast array of references anytime and anywhere, not only aiding their own development but also helping patients – all from the palm of their hand.
Since 2001, Ohio State has distributed PDAs to third- and fourth-year medical students, along with practicing residents and faculty. Funding from the College of Public Medicine, in addition to a TELR grant, has furnished over 1,550 PDAs.
“They are a godsend. The palm hand-helds make life much easier and convenient around the hospital. It is a brilliant idea to distribute palm handhelds to medical students,” said Rashmi Phanindra, a third-year medical student.
Students and faculty receive a PDA equipped with 22 programs, which load and run a variety of applications, including applications obtained through the university’s PDA Web site.
The most recent model, the Palm m515, contains 16 megabytes of memory and holds a blue-tooth card, a mini back-up disk capable of saving 16 additional megabytes.
“One megabyte is the equivalent of a 600-page paperback book, so you can understand the wealth of information that can be stored on a PDA,” said Dr. Robert McKenney, the director of Information Systems for the College of Medicine and Public Health. However, substantial memory is consumed by displaying videos and graphics on the PDA.
Through the use of one-touch screens, organized information can be quickly retrieved. PDAs have superceded notecards, the previous method of quick reference, because they fit better in the pockets on a doctor’s coat.
By verifying and supplementing human memory, PDAs can render credible guidance, increasing patient trust and ultimately leading to better health care.
McKenney is living proof PDA assistance is vital, even while enjoying a special occasion. While celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary in South Carolina, McKenney began experiencing severe intestinal pain and rushed to an urgent-care facility.
“At the facility, no one could remember the proper antibiotic to alleviate my intestinal infection. So I simply grabbed my PDA and searched a drug database. After quickly touching a few screens, I located the right antibiotic for my infection,” McKenney said.
PDA medical software, particularly ePocrates and eRounds, has helped improve diagnoses. An infectious disease guide and clinical drug database are supplied from ePocrates. eRounds, a highly secured medical program, allows residents and doctors to access patient data.
Failure to recharge or back-up PDA components on the blue-tooth card remain the two most common faults of PDA users.
“Only two or three people a day come here for help, so I don’t see a lot of problems with the PDAs,” said Chi-Lun Chen, a grad student in industrial engineering.
McKenney viewed the technology gap as the biggest obstacle facing new users.
“Geeks like us embrace these things very quickly, but there can be a learning curve if educational learner training is not available,” McKenney said.
Programs and applications can be downloaded, or hot-synched, onto the PDA through a PDA cradle or infrared port. Plugged into any personal computer, PDA cradles download personal applications and Web pages.
“Although you can’t navigate the Web, you can create Web channels on your PDA with the AvantGo software program,” said Wasif Malik, a systems specialist within the Information Systems Office.
Secure patient information and specific medical applications can be transmitted to the PDA with infrared ports, which are connected to special servers. The OSU Medical Center monitors the data students may download from these ports, which resemble hockey pucks. OSU owns around seven infrared ports, which use infrared beams to transmit information from the port to the PDA.
“OSU keeps a profile of each user’s applications in the server connected to the infrared port. These ports are designed mainly for residents that need patient info and data,” Malik said.
