Technology What is the best DDx program for a windows mobile PDA?

[Blesbok]

Preferably something that I can check two or three symptoms and it will give me a DDx.

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[Tired]

Your book and a brain.

Next thread.

 

[Doctor J]

Your book and a brain.

Next thread.

This response actually had me laugh out loud. But for those of us who lean a little heavily on computer tools or are just earlier on in our training, I've heard good things about diagnosaurus.

 

[Blesbok]

if you know every possible detail and symptom of every disease ever then i commend you but i am simply not that smart, nor do i want to waste my time using a book when a program on my pda is much more efficient, leaving time for other things like treatment of said disease.

 

[da8s0859q]

Does the paid version of Epocrates offer this or anything similarly helpful? I don't know for sure; I'm still a lowly premedder.

 

[smq123]

But for those of us who lean a little heavily on computer tools or are just earlier on in our training, I've heard good things about diagnosaurus.

Diagnosaurus sucks. It gives you these enormous wide differentials, that aren't very helpful at all.

Does the paid version of Epocrates offer this or anything similarly helpful? I don't know for sure; I'm still a lowly premedder.

Yes, it does. It's a little better than diagnosaurus - you put in the age and gender of the patient, and the duration of the chief complaint. So it's mildly better.

I still don't like using it, so I rarely do, except for kicks.

if you know every possible detail and symptom of every disease ever then i commend you but i am simply not that smart, nor do i want to waste my time using a book when a program on my pda is much more efficient, leaving time for other things like treatment of said disease.

You're joking, right?

The PDA programs that generate differential diagnoses are not efficient. The offer EXTREMELY wide differentials, so wading through the list that is generated is very very time consuming.

Plus, 6 times out of 10, the actual diagnosis never even shows up on those stupid lists!

And, for the love of Jeebus, you're a third year medical student. If you think that you'll be spending large amounts of time figuring out how the "treatment of said disease," then I'm sorry to have to disillusion you.

Seriously, these PDA programs that generate a list of differentials are a waste of space. They don't tell you anything even remotely useful.

And you really should learn the skill of generating a differential BY YOURSELF. That's, basically the MAIN PURPOSE of third year. You learn how to treat people as an intern...you learn the basics of diagnosing people as an MS3.

Your book and a brain.

Next thread.

Totally agree.

 

[OncoCaP]

Preferably something that I can check two or three symptoms and it will give me a DDx.

Epocrates is decent for the basic primary care type Dx except ID and autoimmunity problems. It has a decent drug-drug interaction checker as well. www.gideononline.com is fair for ID. If you have something with good internet access, there are symptom checkers on the web as well which seem to be ok, but I have less experience with those.

 

[njbmd]

Moving to the Technology Forum for reviews and recommendations.

 

[bostonguy]

this is an easy question, it is hands down epocrates...allows you to put in more than one Sx, diagnosaurus (free) and mobile DDx will just give you a laundry list of every possible disease.

the best online option is diagnosispro.com (free) but need to have access to a computer.

 

[chronox]

Preferably something that I can check two or three symptoms and it will give me a DDx.

Hi,.. i was searching an app something similar to this for iPhone though, Is there any? I thought diagnosaurus gives differential diagnosis for only one symptom at a time..?

 

[DrJosephKim]

The best resource is obviously the Internet. Therefore, get a device that has a solid mobile web browser. Then, you can do many searches on sites that are optimized for small screens.

I'm still a big fan of Epocrates, but nothing beats Google.