How important is it to have a smartphone on rotations?

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medstudent87

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I'm starting with Ob/Gyn this July but I can't get a new phone till August. Is having internet access essential? Will all the other students look "smarter" than me since I won't be able to look anything up? I guess I also won't be able to access our schools online system to log my patients.

My only options right now are:

a) Shell out $500-600 (money I don't have) for a new phone

b) Sign a new contract with Verizon. Right now I'm part of a family plan. My dad would def. not like this since he'd be paying for a phone that no one uses. Or he'd have to pay a termination fee. Idk.

c) Stick with my current "regular" phone till August.
 
medstudent87 said:
I'm starting with Ob/Gyn this July but I can't get a new phone till August. Is having internet access essential? Will all the other students look "smarter" than me since I won't be able to look anything up? I guess I also won't be able to access our schools online system to log my patients.

My only options right now are:

a) Shell out $500-600 (money I don't have) for a new phone

b) Sign a new contract with Verizon. Right now I'm part of a family plan. My dad would def. not like this since he'd be paying for a phone that no one uses. Or he'd have to pay a termination fee. Idk.

c) Stick with my current "regular" phone till August.
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I wouldn't pay that much for a phone for just one month. Thats a ton of cash as a student. You can get the little red book that everyone uses on OB and use this as your quick reference (my wife's an OB/Gyn resident so I know they still use this).

I found having a PDA/smart phone to be very useful on rotations. (I'm an old man - we still used PDA's when I was in med school, the only smart phone was the Treo). As a resident, I still find it useful to look up things on rounds.
But it's not so crucial that you have to have it first thing. Get the Maxwell's little book for basic things, plus the OB red book. Then in August you can upgrade.
 
I was probably the ONLY one in my class w/o a smartphone.

I succeeded JUST FINE.

Pocket books, eMedicine/UptoDate (whatever your preference) are your friend.

It's okay to use your noggin once in a while, too 😉
 
what about just picking up a cheapo PDA for the logging/reference? That's what I did for my 3rd year before I got my iPhone, it worked out well. Check around on Ebay or something similar, I'm sure there are a few students graduating or updating to smartphones and trying to get rid of old ones for like $50 (how much I paid for mine). Looking up something on UpToDate on your smartphone vs on a workstation on downtime isn't going to trick anyone into thinking you're Harvey Williams Cushing unless you're super sly or they're super stupid.

Oh, and get a wheel for your pocket or your PDA.
 
Mattchiavelli said:
what about just picking up a cheapo PDA for the logging/reference? That's what I did for my 3rd year before I got my iPhone, it worked out well. Check around on Ebay or something similar, I'm sure there are a few students graduating or updating to smartphones and trying to get rid of old ones for like $50 (how much I paid for mine). Looking up something on UpToDate on your smartphone vs on a workstation on downtime isn't going to trick anyone into thinking you're Harvey Williams Cushing unless you're super sly or they're super stupid.

Oh, and get a wheel for your pocket or your PDA.
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a wheel???
 
for us it's almost essential to have a smartphone...this is mostly due to the fact that communication is mostly done by email and not being able to check our school email on my old phone (i assume it's because it uses frames) was a huge problem. Also, epocrates, medscape, opioid converter, and various other other apps are really useful, not to mention the ability to look stuff up on wikipedia and more importantly the ability to play games when you're bored. It's a pretty sound investment in my mind.
 
oh, and by wheel he/she means a due date calculating wheel...they are pretty handy if the hospital/clinic doesn't have them
 
It's helpful but by no means essential. I wouldn't worry about getting one if it's going to be a pain for you. Should you need to look stuff up, chances are there'll be a computer nearby and that you wouldn't really want to read UptoDate's ramblings on a smart phone screen anyway.
 
Smartphones are way overrated on rotations. The only thing I ever use mine for is epocrates, but frankly it's faster to look up drugs in a pocket pharma book (some residents and I had some competitions on a slow day). Any data entry like patient logs are much easier to do on a real computer, of which there are several wherever you go in the hospital. No attending is going to be impressed by your ability to look up information on a smart phone, nor will they give you the time to do so while they're pimping you. On your own time, it's easier to study on a real computer or from texts.

Also, I don't know if you have to be on the bleeding edge of technology but there are tons of well-kept second-hand smartphones for sale on Craigslist. I paid less than $100 for mine, no contract, and it's one year old and in mint condition. Plenty of people out there NEED the latest phone, and their crippling technophilia can be your windfall. Just check the ESN with the carrier before you buy and enjoy.
 
WellWornLad said:
Smartphones are way overrated on rotations. The only thing I ever use mine for is epocrates, but frankly it's faster to look up drugs in a pocket pharma book (some residents and I had some competitions on a slow day). ...
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In my med school and residency, I have used my phone for:
(1) epocrates, and agree that a small pharmacopea book probably would be just as effective (tarascon makes a cheap one you can buy, which used to be a freebie from drug reps when that was allowed),
(2) texting of info to co-medstudents, residents, because one way paging is stupid (you have to page someone, they have to call back, you have to still be at that number, if not the process starts over again, so texting, which is two way makes more sense although there are HIPAA issues).

Aside from that you are just going to use your phone to check email, play angry birds, actually be a phone, and other less productive uses.

I agree that smartphones are powerful tools, but aside from epocrates, that "killer app" for med school/residency hasn't emerged yet IMHO.
 
for me personally, what would constitute a "killer app" would be a really nice and easy to use program for drug interactions that succinctly explained things so that a quick decision could be make on absolute and relative contraindications. A resource all about polypharmacy itself

does something like that exist? i havent done much research
 
VoiceofReason said:
for me personally, what would constitute a "killer app" would be a really nice and easy to use program for drug interactions that succinctly explained things so that a quick decision could be make on absolute and relative contraindications. A resource all about polypharmacy itself

does something like that exist? i havent done much research
Click to expand...

This info is pretty much in epocrates.
 
VoiceofReason said:
for me personally, what would constitute a "killer app" would be a really nice and easy to use program for drug interactions that succinctly explained things so that a quick decision could be make on absolute and relative contraindications. A resource all about polypharmacy itself

does something like that exist? i havent done much research
Click to expand...

Agree the info is at least partially in epocrates. The other thing you can do is program in the phone number to your hospitals's pharmacist and voila, you have that info accessible through your phone.:laugh:
 
I mean, I don't think a smart phone is necessary but it sure is handy and convenient.

Besides some medical calc apps, most of the other medical info type use could be duplicated by carrying a couple pocket type books.

For me the main advantages are internet access wherever I am (I don't always want to go find a free computer when I just want to quickly check something online) and it's much easier to text on most smartphones. At least where I've been texting is one of the main modes of communication among residents and students.
 
The only things helpful about a smartphone:

1) EPOCRATES: very helpful... especially for finding out the tradename of a drug.
2) access to online textbooks so you can study hard when you're standing around waiting for your resident. Hopefully, you can access your library and get to StatRef or other e-resources.
3) you can check your e-mail. Sometimes lecture times are changed, and the good course administrators will send out reminders for paperwork and lectures.

I hate reading stuff on my phone, but it beats carrying around several textbooks.

Pocket guides are really good, though, and they're better for giving condensed information. They're meant for quick reference... unlike some of the online stuff. The Green Book is key on Medicine. I also intermittently carried around ECG Criteria, The Sanford Guide, Tarrascon pocket pharmacopoeia, and a little notebook in which I tried to put as much random information as possible.
 
2) access to online textbooks so you can study hard when you're standing around waiting for your resident. Hopefully, you can access your library and get to StatRef or other e-resources.
Click to expand...
Does anyone actually do this? I sure as hell don't.
 
MilkmanAl said:
Does anyone actually do this? I sure as hell don't.
Click to expand...

I definitely didn't, but I was more of a rip a handful of pages out of a book and jam them in my pockets kind of guy. Smartphone was good for epocrates, a calculator, email/IM access, and as a phone. Otherwise it was mostly good for killing time.
 
I called the hospital I'll be doing my first rotation at...they don't have wireless internet. So i guess a cheap PDA is out of the question now? (I'm honestly not even sure what a PDA does....is it basically just a "smartphone" without the "phone" part? A "smart", if you will lol

Pocket-guides till August...yay
 
If your school/hospitals have wifi, an iPod touch is probably all you really need for your rotations so you can download the essential programs. Cheaper than an iPhone in the long run, no data plan to pay for every month, and almost the exact same OS.

Alternative you can just download epocrates/dynamed onto your ipod touch and not have to worry about being distracted by the internet.
 
VoiceofReason said:
for me personally, what would constitute a "killer app" would be a really nice and easy to use program for drug interactions that succinctly explained things so that a quick decision could be make on absolute and relative contraindications. A resource all about polypharmacy itself

does something like that exist? i havent done much research
Click to expand...

The Medscape Mobile app has a drug interactions checker thingymajig, but I can't attest to its usefulness when you're under the gun.

http://www.medscape.com/public/mobileapp
 
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MilkmanAl said:
Does anyone actually do this? I sure as hell don't.
Click to expand...

b-real said:
Hell, no. And I have a hard time believing that the poster actually does.
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Believe it. I'm really not sure why it's so hard to imagine someone doing that.

Right now on Neurology, I'll sometimes have Clinical Neurology loaded on my browser. On Psych I would skim DSM IV and read the APA practice guidelines. On a variety of rotations, I'd hit up Harrison's. Once you get used to it, it's pretty quick. You can have it loaded in the browser and then just pull out your phone when you're told, "wait here, I'll be back in 5 minutes." Twenty minutes later, your classmate is complaining that he has nothing to do and is bored, but you just got in some decent reading.

At other times, I'll read surgery textbooks on my phone, e.g. when I'm on the train.
 
dienekes88 said:
Hahaha. Believe it. I'm really not sure why it's so hard to imagine someone doing that.

Right now on Neurology, I'll sometimes have Clinical Neurology loaded on my browser. On Psych I would skim DSM IV and read the APA practice guidelines. On a variety of rotations, I'd hit up Harrison's. Once you get used to it, it's pretty quick. You can have it loaded in the browser and then just pull out your phone when you're told, "wait here, I'll be back in 5 minutes." Twenty minutes later, your classmate is complaining that he has nothing to do and is bored, but you just got in some decent reading.

At other times, I'll read surgery textbooks on my phone, e.g. when I'm on the train.
Click to expand...


....but how can you see the words?? I assume you'd have to zoom in A LOT and then constantly use ur finger to slide the text across the screen, right? ...sounds nauseating
 
medstudent87 said:
....but how can you see the words?? I assume you'd have to zoom in A LOT and then constantly use ur finger to slide the text across the screen, right? ...sounds nauseating
Click to expand...

Eh. I slide the text across the screen slowly. However, I also carry in my pocket some Uptodate articles or a journal article I want to read or re-read. I've killed a lot of trees to avoid eye-strain.

Even in medical school, it's uncool to be really into reading. It's one of those things that medical students are supposed to hate. I'm not sure why. Some of my classmates have tried to make fun of me for reading a lot. I don't really get it. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm a nerd.
 
MilkmanAl said:
I think it's more that many or most people genuinely do not enjoy reading medical articles and can't relate to people like you who do.
Click to expand...

This.

It's one thing to read, say, an article on the workup and treatment of a specific kind of disease or disorder, versus just reading some basic sciences journal article or even some sort of review on the effectiveness of some treatment and finding that... entertaining 😵. My idea of fun is television, film, or novels.

And as for the feeling being mutual... you find it hard to relate to people who DON'T read medical articles for pleasure? 😕😕
 
ArcGurren said:
This.

It's one thing to read, say, an article on the workup and treatment of a specific kind of disease or disorder, versus just reading some basic sciences journal article or even some sort of review on the effectiveness of some treatment and finding that... entertaining 😵. My idea of fun is television, film, or novels.

And as for the feeling being mutual... you find it hard to relate to people who DON'T read medical articles for pleasure? 😕😕
Click to expand...

It was a joke.
 
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