ACGME- Logging Cases on your PDA

[SLUser11]

First of all, I'm very stupid with technology...just wanted to put that out on the table.


I bought a palm Z22 this week, and the plan was to use it to log surgical cases using the software from the ACGME website. However, After downloading the software, I'm stuck....there's no manual, and all I have is an "Afaria" icon that gives me "connect now" and "documents" as options.

I emailed the acgme help desk, but I thought some of you might be able to help as well, since it seems that everyone but me already has a PDA.

Does anybody have insight into using PDAs for logging cases? Is my palm not compatible? If so, what's the cheapest type of PDA that it will work on? (I have a 95% chance of losing or breaking it, so I don't want a $400 piece of equipment). Thanks for your help.

SLUser11


ps I would have posted this in the Technology forum, but I didn't think they would know anything about the ACGME software.

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[SLUser11]

Nevermind, ACGME got back to me.....they don't support newer versions of palm (including 5.4 that I have).....this, plus the fact that Best Buy didn't have any palms, has led me to have the completely un-substantiated opinion that palm is a dead technology....back to Pharmacopaiea.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Nevermind, ACGME got back to me.....they don't support newer versions of palm (including 5.4 that I have).....this, plus the fact that Best Buy didn't have any palms, has led me to have the completely un-substantiated opinion that palm is a dead technology....back to Pharmacopaiea.

Good old piece of paper and pen for me (with Excel to log my cases).

 

[FliteSurgn]

Good old piece of paper and pen for me (with Excel to log my cases).

Why log them into Excel when you can just log them into the ACGME caselog online? If you log them in Excel, then you or someone else has to transfer the same info to the ACGME caselog. Duplication of effort was never one of my favorite activites.

Regarding the PDA application, I never found it very useful anyway. Of course, I also felt that I had a 95% chance of losing the PDA. Plus, I hated carrying more gadgets than I needed. I've solved that by using a PDA-phone combo for the last 2 years.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Why log them into Excel when you can just log them into the ACGME caselog online? If you log them in Excel, then you or someone else has to transfer the same info to the ACGME caselog. Duplication of effort was never one of my favorite activites.

Regarding the PDA application, I never found it very useful anyway. Of course, I also felt that I had a 95% chance of losing the PDA. Plus, I hated carrying more gadgets than I needed. I've solved that by using a PDA-phone combo for the last 2 years.

Because my residency program did not give access to the ACGME caselog to the residents (not sure what's involved in getting it). Therefore, the program coordinator was doing all the data entry and I agree that it seemed like a waste of time. But given that I was sending her legible documents rather than a shoebox full of patient stickers without dates, or names of operations, I felt pretty good about it.

 

[FliteSurgn]

But given that I was sending her legible documents rather than a shoebox full of patient stickers without dates, or names of operations, I felt pretty good about it.

lol...we all had to enter our own data because our coordinator KNEW that she would be on the receiving end of some "shoeboxes" otherwise.

I wonder why you didn't get access. It made things very handy...you could see at any moment how many major cases you had and their distribution in the defined categories. You could also record multiple procedures per patient per day and then decide which one you wanted to take "credit" for and could change it if you needed more in a different category later down the road.

 

[Winged Scapula]

lol...we all had to enter our own data because our coordinator KNEW that she would be on the receiving end of some "shoeboxes" otherwise.

I wonder why you didn't get access. It made things very handy...you could see at any moment how many major cases you had and their distribution in the defined categories. You could also record multiple procedures per patient per day and then decide which one you wanted to take "credit" for and could change it if you needed more in a different category later down the road.

Yeah, I was never sure why either. Our Program Coordinator was fantastic, had been doing the job for 28+ years and was so good at it, perhaps they felt she was better than we were. One of the reasons I kept my file was so that I could the same - ie, substitute certain CPT codes for others on the same patient should I need more in the category. She would just change whatever I asked.

I never had a problem getting updated case logs from our coordinator in more than a couple of days, but again, some of my colleagues hadn't logged cases since 2nd year (and we were approaching ACS deadline in May of this year!

I don't know how she did it without taking some shots at a few of us!!!