I Switched From Palm Treo to iPhone

[docB]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Despite being a long term, die hard Palm user I finally had to give it up. I have been carrying palms since the late 90s. I think I had 5 different devices in all. But after seeing all of my colleagues move to iPhone and seeing the web capabilities I finally had to switch.

Overall I’m really happy with the iPhone but there are a number of issues with switching and important differences that come up. I’m hoping this thread will turn into a guide and discussion for iPhone related issues.

Contacts

One of the first issues that come up is how to move your contacts from the Palm to the iPhone. I found this solution to be easy and effective.

Notes

I had hundreds of notes in the Memo program of the Palm. Moving these to the iPhone was much trickier. The Notes program that comes with the iPhone is almost useless. You can’t password protect anything and you can’t file notes under separate categories so even if you are willing to retype everything (which would be miserable on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard) you will have to slog through all your notes to find the one you want. I have mine tagged, eg. Neurology, Peds, etc., so it’s manageable. I found Notespark (check the App Store, $5) to be a reasonable but imperfect work around.

Raj Chand has an article on EM-Blog about switching from Treo to iPhone and he covers the use of Notespark to move your notes.

Epocrates

On the iPhone you can get some cool features. You can pull up pictures of pills and identify pills by description, both of which are very useful features for EM. I have had some difficulties though.

I lost all of my drug specific notes. I have not found a way to get those back.

I have been annoyed by the number of features are blocked unless you upgrade to the premium (paid for) version. I am especially annoyed that you can’t look up OTC drugs without paying. I don’t remember that from my Palm version. And I need to look up OTCs frequently.

Most annoying though is that there’s some delay between when I launch Epocrates and when it will let me actually enter something in the search line. This delay is about 20 seconds. That’s a lot of time to spend staring at a PDA screen in the ED. This delay is actually making me use Epocrates less and do more in Medscape.

Medscape

A colleague told me about Medscape on the iPhone. I actually had an old account and used to use it via the web years ago so I just found my password, downloaded the app and was ready to go. The medication finder is really good and you can look up other info. You can even do CME when you’re bored and it logs it in your account so you can print it out later. Medscape is replacing Epocrates as my go to app.

Pepid

I liked Pepid and used it about once or twice a week. BUT when I tried to download it on the iPhone I was informed that to switch to the iPhone version in the middle of a subscription I had to upgrade. In other words I already paid for a subscription but just to switch devices they wanted more money. So I said forget that. I’m looking at other resources to replace Pepid and I’ll let you know how it goes. If I can’t find anything else that’s as good I might go back but I’m not going to pay to upgrade an existing subscription. So here’s a big 👎 to Pepid for that policy.

MedCalc

MedCalc is free and just as awesome as ever on the iPhone.


AT&T

For those who don’t know iPhone has an exclusive deal with AT&T. To get an iPhone you have to change wireless companies and switch to AT&T. That means paying to get out of your contract or waiting until your contract is up. It is also a big minus in that everyone seems to agree that AT&T has worse coverage than whoever they were with before. My experience bears this out. I lose signal at several spots on I15 between Vegas and LA and on I15 going to Mesquite, NV. Granted it’s the desert but we’re talking about a major interstate. Hopefully AT&T will get better but everything I see in the media seems to indicate that Apple will just eventually give up on the exclusive deal and open up to other carriers. At that point I suspect AT&T will just die.

Cases

The iPhone is pretty vulnerable as is. Pretty much everyone puts it in a case. I have found this one to be pretty good if you like clip holsters.

If you don’t like that there are an infinite number of alternatives including waterproof cases and high shock resistant cases.


I’m pressed for time so I’ll end it there for now. I’ll post more as it comes up. Who has other cool apps, especially medical apps? Who has other tips for the iPhone in general?

 

[MountainEM]

Hey...
good review...

I have really enjoyed the iphone on clinicals this year. Entertainment, communication, and med data all in one. I love listening to the ipod/pandora/rss on downtime too.

Anyhow, wondered if you got the ATT friends referral thing done yet. I would love to refer you and we each get $25 bucks. very easy and quick. Sounds like you just joined ATT.

cheers
d

 

[deleted65604]

I LOVE my I-touch (didn't get the iphone as only verizon has good service were I am.

This product is revolutionary!

Diagnosaurus is great.

I like Epocrates pro (the infectious disease stuff is helpful and I like a lot of the tables)

5 minute Emergency Consult is a great product.

The ease of downloading applications (I have a WiFi connection at my house) and the ease of use makes it kick the crap out of anything out there.

The availability of wide variety of programs puts the old palm products to shame, (and I was a faithful palm product purchaser)

Anybody had experience comparing the palm pre and Iphone/touch?

 

[turtle md]

Nice review. As far as notes, I found FileApp for free, and then downloaded the program it requires onto my mac (for free). Then I moved all my old files from my palm onto my computer, and then using the above program, moved them to my iphone. I can arrange according to folders, so easily organized everything. It cannot be pass protected, however.

 

[Blake300m]

Definitely check out SonoAccess - a free app made by SonoSite, with tons of high quality ultrasound videos. Especially useful for medical students, residents, and those attendings without as much experience with ultrasound.

 

[J-Rad]

Notes

I had hundreds of notes in the Memo program of the Palm. Moving these to the iPhone was much trickier. The Notes program that comes with the iPhone is almost useless. You can’t password protect anything and you can’t file notes under separate categories so even if you are willing to retype everything (which would be miserable on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard) you will have to slog through all your notes to find the one you want. I have mine tagged, eg. Neurology, Peds, etc., so it’s manageable. I found Notespark (check the App Store, $5) to be a reasonable but imperfect work around.

Have you looked at "Documents To Go" by DataViz? They've been at it a long time (originally with the Palm platform) so they've made a very nice product. Very robust and they just upgraded some of the features like a page jump-to on the PDF viewer. At $10-$15 dollars (the higher priced one gives you the valued ability to save documents sent to you via an exchange server) I think the program is a bargain. I would think there would be some good ways to transfer, save, and store your notes with this program.

 

[RxnMan]

I LOVE my I-touch (didn't get the iphone as only verizon has good service were I am...

Despite being a long term, die hard Palm user I finally had to give it up...For those who don’t know iPhone has an exclusive deal with AT&T. To get an iPhone you have to change wireless companies and switch to AT&T...Hopefully AT&T will get better but everything I see in the media seems to indicate that Apple will just eventually give up on the exclusive deal and open up to other carriers. At that point I suspect AT&T will just die...

Awesome update. The iPhone/iTouch looks great, but I'm also on Verizon now. I'm waiting until the AT&T exclusive contract is up in mid-2010 to see if Verizon will support iPhones. Thank you.

 

[traumasurg]

Let me preface by saying occasionally I have signal trouble but I think that's because I'm in Alabama.

After I got into ems I learned I enjoy listening to scanners. They are also helpful to avoid traffic near wrecks. "five-0" is a great scanner app and I'm sure it has las Vegas fire and ems.

Sportscenter is great if you like sports.

As a spanish major I rarely use the medspanish app but it translates very well for emergency Spanish medical communication.

Epocrates is great in the field when I'm handed "white pills" in a dope baggy. The pics of pills in epocrates are great.

Overall I'm very pleased with my iPhone.

 

[Stitch]

I used some CME money and bought the Lexi-comp package. It's really worth it, and the peds dosing is more accurate than epocrates (though I admittedly haven't tried epocrates premium).

Med calc is awesome as well.

 

[Cerberus]

I highly reccomend getting the skyscape free app with OCM (Outlines in Clinical Medicine). I've used several other payapps (pepid, Epocrates Pro) but find that OCM is the best when you just want a little background on a disease you may not remember all that well.

 

[docB]

One thing I do really like about the iPhone is the voice mail. You don't have to dial in and enter your PIN everytime. You just go to you voicemail screen and press a button and your message plays right away. I suppose it's a little less secure but I not need high security on my voice mail. Tiger Woods might want to aviod it though.

Also of note, my Epocrates seems to be working better (less delay). So I'm using it more. I have found that it has better info on available dosages (eg. Motrin 100, 200, 400, 600, 800 mg tabs) than Medscape.

 

[Jeff698]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this lately, but dosing calculators in PEPID are now native, i.e. you don't need a wifi/cell connection.

They're working on getting the remaining calculators native as well.

Just another plug from your friendly I-don't-get-any-money-from-PEPID-but-I-really-should EP/iPhone-aholic.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[lawj]

Anyone been using the new Palm Pre? How does app availability for the Palm OS compare to Apple's?

 

[docB]

I found a kinda cool app. Eponyms is free and it has most of the eponyms you can think of. I've found it good for when I can't remember which is a Maisonneuve (or how to spell it) and which is a Monteggia.

Disclosure: I don't have any tie to any of this stuff.

 

[Jeff698]

Speaking of apps, I just found out about Sedation, a $5 app that has nice data on lots of sedation meds with the ability to easily calculate doseages for you.

Nope, no affiliations, just like the app so far.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[xaelia]

On an iPhone semi-related note - how about podcasts to listen to as osmotic background noise? EMRA gets us EM:RAP and EMA for free, they're not bad - and Clay Smith has a Vanderbilt one for free that seems OK.

 

[TyrKinase]

For notes: I use Simplenote (link) which syncs with a web-based service, meaning you can type in your notes on the phone or on the computer and they show up both places so long as you have an internet connection. Pretty slick.

The app is free (used to be $4 I think) and for "premium" service (gets rid of a minimal ads) there is a $5/year fee. One of my favorite apps and I'm a huge iPhone nerd.

 

[docB]

Just to update: Love the iPhone, hate AT&T, still annoyed with Epocrates and Pepid. Wish iPhone had better memo capabilities. Love the internet abilities, apps, appstore.

I do have a problem. My wife and I both have iPhones. We share a desktop and iTunes. Our phones have different "names" but iTunes still loads the apps on the phone according to whichever phone was last. For example she synced her phone yesterday. So when I synced mine today I got all her apps. I had to (and I have to do this every time for each iPhone) go back through after the initial sync and manually delete all the apps I didn't want. She has to do this too. I don't want the People Magazine app and she doesn't want Medscape.

I can't find a way to configure iTunes so it recognizes a particular iPhone and which apps it's supposed to load. Any tips?

 

[southerndoc]

The only way to do this is to configure separate user accounts for the computer.

 

[deleted109597]

The only way to do this is to configure separate user accounts for the computer.

Yep. Of course, don't make the mistake of plugging in when the other account is logged on though.
I do this simply to keep our banking/email/other stuff working. We both use the same bank. We both use the same emails. Rather than log in each time, we both now have user accounts so the cookies are separate. All files are shared, so we can share across them (and to the laptop in the other room).
However, the laptop doesn't have the memory to handle 1 account really, so 2 is out of the question.
For the record, Windows 7 is pretty awesome, and if you can get it for the student/faculty price, is well worth the $30.

I do wish iTunes didn't suck a bag when running on a Windows system. Seriously, it runs slower than AOL did back in 1996. I can plug in the phone and go make dinner before it finishes syncing. Even my Handspring Visor was faster than that.

 

[docB]

The only way to do this is to configure separate user accounts for the computer.

I may just go ahead and create a seperate account and use it just for my iPhone. I'll let my wife keep using the main. She's not so good with computers so she might not be able to handle the log out, log back in thing. thanks for the tip.

I do wish iTunes didn't suck a bag when running on a Windows system. Seriously, it runs slower than AOL did back in 1996. I can plug in the phone and go make dinner before it finishes syncing. Even my Handspring Visor was faster than that.

That's true. I have gotten to the point where I really like all my apple gadgets and continue to have the eye rolling, frustrating and occasionally bat**** crazy rage producing relationship with Windows (Windows 7 motto "Sucks way less than you thought!) so I'm actually thing of goiing full apple this year.

 

[atelectasis]

Instead of starting a new thread, I thought it might be better to post here:

So how are the medical apps working on the iphones/ipod touches working out? Had been holding out on getting a touch to use as a pda until 3rd year clinicals but with the ipad popping out around April and only a few more exams (and a really big one in the summer) before 3rd year, it's time to make some decisions. Is the medical apps library large enough or applicable enough? I'm thinking that the ipad would actually be decent because it just might fit in the pocket of my short white coat. And this is assuming that the touch software can be used on the ipad. Are you any of you considering the ipad? Or does it look too clunky for use in the real (medical) world?

Although, it just might be worth getting because it looks so awesome. And of course, I will so get the ipad if it comes with a tricorder app.....

 

[Jeff698]

Had been holding out on getting a touch to use as a pda until 3rd year clinicals but with the ipad popping out around April and only a few more exams (and a really big one in the summer) before 3rd year, it's time to make some decisions.

I'd advise sticking with either an iPhone (if you want the phone part) or iPod Touch. While I'm a kool-aid drinker when it comes to Apple products, there is just too much unknown about the iPad to risk the level of investment you're thinking about as a medical student.

Get what you know will work (and either of the smaller devices will work very well...I never leave for a shift without my iPhone with PEPID, Medscape and a ton of calculators... most unused but that's a different story). When you're an attending and have a bit more disposable income, then become an early adaptor. Like me! 🙂

BTW, I can't see an iPad fitting any anyone's pocket.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[docB]

I agree with Jeff. Being an early adopter has its risks. My wife bought me a very first generation Kindle. The subsequent generations were much better. I suspect that the first iPad will have some issues, or may not catch on at all.

Unless it does have a tricorder app😉.

 

[DrQuinn]

There is a great free Snellen (vision) chart for the iPhone. I have used it and its pretty good in a pinch (or when you have a lazy nurse).

Our iPhone is indispensible for our kids, my three year old and 1.5 year old use it when we are on the airplane (and i am sure everyone else on the airplane is thankful too!).

I would recommend the game "Space Ace." Its a port from the awesome 80s arcade that most of us attendings may remember. They have Dragon's Lair, too. I really don't use the iphone much for med stuff, though I use it a lot when I have pediatric patients, there is a great spongebob app that will distract the kids during a lac repair. Its free too.

Q

 

[dmitrinyr]

I really don't use the iphone much for med stuff, though I use it a lot when I have pediatric patients, there is a great spongebob app that will distract the kids during a lac repair. Its free too.

Q

I never even thought of doing this... great utilization of technology Dr. Quinn.

 

[Jeff698]

This may have been mentioned before, but I'll often take pictures of images off of the PACS monitor for fractures to show patients their injuries. I'll also do it to show kids what their lacerations look like (after repair) on chins and scalps.

For some reason, the green eye after florescein always amuses me so I take pictures of those to show the patients also.

I've taken pictures of cool findings to use in presentations (with the patients permission, of course).

Nifty things, these phones.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[MeowMix]

So how are the medical apps working on the iphones/ipod touches working out?

beautiful. Once I got a Touch I never used my PDA again. This is really great technology.

As a med student, you have other things to carry like Sanford's, Maxwell's, and Pocket Medicine. Forget the ipad, it's too big and you will be sad when you lose it.

 

[RxnMan]

beautiful. Once I got a Touch I never used my PDA again. This is really great technology.

As a med student, you have other things to carry like Sanford's, Maxwell's, and Pocket Medicine. Forget the ipad, it's too big and you will be sad when you lose it.

Been awhile, MeowMix. How's residency treating you?

 

[willow18]

Anybody have thoughts about the lack of real multitasking in the iphone (even in iOS4) vs the other new smartphones? Do you find it annoying/time consuming to shuttle between programs?

 

[docB]

Anybody have thoughts about the lack of real multitasking in the iphone (even in iOS4) vs the other new smartphones? Do you find it annoying/time consuming to shuttle between programs?

I haven't found that to be a problem in the ED. It's really rare that I'm trying to listen to Pandora and look something up in Medscape at the same time. It's more of an issue outside the ED and even then I just don't tend to try to multitask on it.

 

[willow18]

I don't really mean multitasking like Pandora or even email/phone as much as having several medical programs open to do single-task among them to save the time and effort of shuttling between them. The extreme case could be something like having a medication monograph open in Epocrates and wanting to use a conversion program while taking a look at a disease profile in PEPID...but that's probably more of a clueless student thing...in general, though, I think it would be easier to have the 3-4 most commonly used things open and running in the background. I will be transitioning from an aging Palm TX so was hoping for "multitasking".

 

[docB]

I don't really mean multitasking like Pandora or even email/phone as much as having several medical programs open to do single-task among them to save the time and effort of shuttling between them. The extreme case could be something like having a medication monograph open in Epocrates and wanting to use a conversion program while taking a look at a disease profile in PEPID...but that's probably more of a clueless student thing...in general, though, I think it would be easier to have the 3-4 most commonly used things open and running in the background. I will be transitioning from an aging Palm TX so was hoping for "multitasking".

I see what you mean. I haven't run into that too much but now that you mention it it dies get annoying switching back and forth from Epocrates and the calculator when doing pedi drug doses.

 

[Phlame217]

Anybody have thoughts about the lack of real multitasking in the iphone (even in iOS4) vs the other new smartphones? Do you find it annoying/time consuming to shuttle between programs?

jailbreaking would have solved this for you, JB's have had multitasking for a while now; though we have, any more than a few apps will slow your phone though.

 

[Phlame217]

I see what you mean. I haven't run into that too much but now that you mention it it dies get annoying switching back and forth from Epocrates and the calculator when doing pedi drug doses.

Along with the new iPhone comming out on the 24th, apple is releasing the next overhauled version of the iPhone operating system known as "iOS 4."

This iOS is essentially like upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (hopefully skipping the Vista like issues).

iOS includes a limited multitasking which many iPhone users have been beckoning for, for a little while now. Multitasking will only work (officially) on the 3GS and 4 models, 3G wont be getting it (unless you jailbreak).

Read more about it here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/

 

[Phlame217]

I may just go ahead and create a seperate account and use it just for my iPhone. I'll let my wife keep using the main. She's not so good with computers so she might not be able to handle the log out, log back in thing. thanks for the tip.



That's true. I have gotten to the point where I really like all my apple gadgets and continue to have the eye rolling, frustrating and occasionally bat**** crazy rage producing relationship with Windows (Windows 7 motto "Sucks way less than you thought!) so I'm actually thing of goiing full apple this year.

I recently went all Apple and haven't regretted it (for the most part). I am an avid techy and got used to building my own computers and maintaining them (built high end gaming rigs and video editing rigs), but seeing as it now has shifted from an enjoyable hobby to a pain in the ass chore, i had a change of heart. After much regret, I left the PC world and invested into my first Macbook pro (15" fully loaded one) and it is soooo sleek. I love it! I have bootcamp installed with windows 7 for the few things I need windows for, but otherwise the mac interface and "no need for maintenance" is just amazing.

 

[docB]

I recently went all Apple and haven't regretted it (for the most part). I am an avid techy and got used to building my own computers and maintaining them (built high end gaming rigs and video editing rigs), but seeing as it now has shifted from an enjoyable hobby to a pain in the ass chore, i had a change of heart. After much regret, I left the PC world and invested into my first Macbook pro (15" fully loaded one) and it is soooo sleek. I love it! I have bootcamp installed with windows 7 for the few things I need windows for, but otherwise the mac interface and "no need for maintenance" is just amazing.

I'm still headed that way. I still have Windows XP. I recently looked at Windows 7 and it's a big jump, lots of learning. Reminds me of going to Windows 95 back in the day. I figure if I've gotta spend all that time learning a new OS I may as well just make the jump to Apple sooner rather than later.

 

[Phlame217]

Unlike "learning" the windows 7 interface, the Mac OSX interface is very intuitive and things seem to flow well and theres not much to learn. The only things I've had issues with are keyboard shortcuts and the whole concept of closing windows vs the whole process (when you "x" a window in mac, the process stays live but the window closes. to fully quit it, you must do "Command + Q" or go "File>Quit process."

 

[docB]

So two of the things I have been unhappy with on the iPhone are the calendar and the photo album programs. The calendar is way too simple and the photo roll won't let you subdivide pictures into different sets.

I have heard that using web based programs like Google Calendar and Picasa allow better functionality and are syncable with the iPhone. Anyone have experience with these?

 

[Phlame217]

I use google calendars and input my stuff in through the google mail on my web browser and sync it all to my iPhone. As far as the photos, you will be able to get what you want in iOS 4. It has the folder option including the ability to organize photos.

 

[docB]

I use google calendars and input my stuff in through the google mail on my web browser and sync it all to my iPhone. As far as the photos, you will be able to get what you want in iOS 4. It has the folder option including the ability to organize photos.

Cool. I'll check out Google calendar and I'll hold off on Picasa. Thanks.

 

[gutonc]

So two of the things I have been unhappy with on the iPhone are the calendar and the photo album programs. The calendar is way too simple and the photo roll won't let you subdivide pictures into different sets.

I have heard that using web based programs like Google Calendar and Picasa allow better functionality and are syncable with the iPhone. Anyone have experience with these?

Native Google Calendar was the #1 reason I went with a Droid instead of the iPhone. Reasons 2-18 were not having to switch to AT&T.

 

[tkim]

native google calendar was the #1 reason i went with a droid instead of the iphone. Reasons 2-18 were not having to switch to at&t.

+1

 

[Jeff698]

As an admittedly avid Apple supporter, I find the lack of useful (as opposed to "true") multitasking on my iPhone to be a pain in my ass.

I run into exactly the scenario you mention where I have an article up in PEPID and have to close it out, go to another app, do my thing, go back to PEPID and re-find the article. Painful.

What I want, though, isn't true multitasking. While the phone/computer may be able to truly multitask, I can't. I can't read two articles at once or use two apps at once (assuming one isn't music which is there already with iTunes and coming for Pandora). What I want is the ability to save the state of the application so that I can rapidly switch back and forth without having to open the app and re-navigate to where I was. This is what iOS 4 will give us.

The benefit is much better battery/chip performance. This is important to me because I need my phone to last through a 12 hour shift.

The only reason I'd like true multitasking is to download a web page in the background while doing something else. That would be nice.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[Phlame217]

Native Google Calendar was the #1 reason I went with a Droid instead of the iPhone. Reasons 2-18 were not having to switch to AT&T.

With enterprise sync capabilities (and in iOS 4 you can do more than 1 account) you get pretty much native calendars. I was the first adopter of Droid getting one of the first t-mobile G1's off the presses and even with the EVO i still get much more satisfaction out of my iPhone than any droid phone (with that statement tentative on a jailbroken iPhone).

 

[jbar]

Last post was about a year ago. Anyone have any emergency medicine apps that they suggest for the iphone? Especially things released in the last year.

 

[docB]

I found one called EMS Tracker that is pretty cool. It's really for medics dealing with critical patients. It has buttons you can press to record times for call, arrived on scene, transporting, arrived at hospital, etc. So that sounds great you say, for medics. But you can actually customize everything. So mine now has patient arrived, intubated/tube verified, drugs, defib, code called, etc. You just open the app and hit the buttons and events unfold and it keeps a timed record for you so you can go back and document it later. You can also save the record and start a new one and you can email the record. I have found it to be handy for codes where I always used to be guessing about what I did when.

I have also figured out how to make my group's scheduling program Tangiers to download to iCal automatically. That has been really helpful.