3rd year and PDA

[kmmymac]

Has anybody out there gotten a PDA for 3rd year? If so, how is it working? And what requirements were you looking for? I'm looking at a Palm that has 32MB of storage, goes at 312Hz. These numbers don't really mean much to me, but I'm worried about having enough storage space for medical programs and books, and it being fast enough that I can reduce the amount of pimp-time.

Any feedback on this one, or suggestions on a good PDA? Oh, yeah, I'm technologically imapired!

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[ERJunkie]

If storage space is your primary concern, most palms have a slot for a memory card. I will be an M1 in the fall, but I use Palms for research observations and personal use and have been very happy with their products.

Has anybody out there gotten a PDA for 3rd year? If so, how is it working? And what requirements were you looking for? I'm looking at a Palm that has 32MB of storage, goes at 312Hz. These numbers don't really mean much to me, but I'm worried about having enough storage space for medical programs and books, and it being fast enough that I can reduce the amount of pimp-time.

Any feedback on this one, or suggestions on a good PDA? Oh, yeah, I'm technologically imapired!

 

[nutmegs]

I'm going out to buy one soon. I thought I wanted a palm but it seems more and more like pocketpc might be the way to go. primarily because I want to be able to use wifi (wtf is with palm and bluetooth... does me NO good...) and I don't want to lose my memory card to do it. it seems like pocket pc is supporting a decent amount of med applications, so might as well.

i'd recommend against palm's lifedrive- don't get me wrong, it's hot, but hard drive based PDAs = no room for getting dropped

and I know myself

 

[cytoborg]

Has anybody out there gotten a PDA for 3rd year?

I know this isn't your question, but just a thought...we were given pretty nice PDAs by our school (part of our "cost of attendance" I presume) but a lot of us never used them. They were really hot at our institution for a short while, but then there was a backlash. For the most part, we weren't allowed to use them during rounds. I don't know how other places are. But it might be a good idea to find out if they're OK on the wards prior to making the investment - unless you're looking to use it on your own time as well.

 

[Smurfette]

I had a PDA for 3rd and 4th year...I personally did not put anything on a memory card. The main thing I use is Epocrates, during rounds and such, since it's such a quick reference (and I find it faster than my pocket pharmacopia). Most other medical programs I have on mine I use only rarely---when we wanted to look something more complex up, such as disease-specific info and DDx's, no one ever had issues with students or residents looking it up on UpToDate or in current literature on the internet, and at my institution, looking it up via that route was preferred.

 

[Mumpu]

Megabyte for megabyte, memory cards are significantly cheaper than the same amount of memory built into the PDA. If you need a PDA only to store information, there is absolutely no reason to spend $400 for MP3 player, digital camera, yellow-teeth wireless, etc. I got my Clie for $60 plus another $20 for a memory card and it does absolutely everything I need on the wards.

 

[Mumpu]

Megabyte for megabyte, memory cards are significantly cheaper than the same amount of memory built into the PDA. If you need a PDA only to store information, there is absolutely no reason to spend $400 for MP3 player, digital camera, yellow-teeth wireless, etc. I got my Clie for $60 plus another $20 for a memory card and it does absolutely everything I need on the wards.

 

[automaton]

i used my PDA a lot during outpatient. i would get the schedule for the day and look up stuff based on the CC whenever i had free time in between seeing patients. but on inpatient there is a lot more down time and less time pressure so i end up using uptodate on the computer more often. i still think it's very useful. i have a pocketpc.

 

[justawonderin]

Palm has been VERY handy throughout my medical school years.
Favorite programs:
Epocrates
Hopkins Abx Guide
Eponyms
Medical Mnemonics (for the first couple years more than 3 and 4)
Archimedes
Diagnosaurs
Merck Manual
5 minute Clinical Consult

Most of the above are FREE if you just look around.

Oh, forgot to add the essential Palm programs like solitaire and bejeweled.

I've had a few PDA's and agree that internal memory is not really the issue. Palm 515 (you can find one on Ebay really cheap) and Tungsten E are my current models. Just basic palm platforms. If I was to buy a new one, I'd probably look at the clie's, despite the fact that I heard Sony is supposedly stopping production of them. Always have liked Sony products.