iPad for 3rd and 4th year?

[1987ram]

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So I'm debating getting an iPad for my 3rd and 4th year rotations. I already have an iPhone and a laptop, but I know some people think and iPad can be helpful in clerkships.

Any advice? Should I get one?

 

[officedepot]

Do not waste your money. You will not be able to use it because you will be very busy and will learn to remember most things and just jot down notes and on piece of paper. Also you can look up any information you need on your phone. Furthermore I wouldn't want to leave something so expensive just lying around...

Unless your school has specific programs available to you that will allow you update notes or put in orders as you go on rounds and then finish them later any sort of tablet would be useless on rotations. You can carry around small books that have all the information you will need or you can download such programs like epocrates to your phone. Seriously that's all you'll need. Do not get an Ipad with the thought that it will be useful on rotations.

Now if you just want one for yourself then feel free of course. But it is not for the hospital at this point in our education and I don't think hospitals, most with a recent transition to emrs anyway, are currently set up to handle tablet pcs. I have only seen 1 resident have one and I have no idea when they were using it for. I have not seen a single attending carry one. Hospitals nowadays have portable/cart computers that residents/students will push/roll/drag outside the patient's door and then walk out after talking to the patient to put orders in. Notes will be done after rounds. Maybe some day once tablet's become cheap enough and hospitals have the software they will be more commonplace.

So this is just my personal experience. If you bring one you'll probably look really dumb if no one else carries it. Also, this is probably very instituation based. The hospitals I am at have more than enough computers. Maybe your hospitals will have the software already set up and students will actually have the ability to make use of it but I doubt it.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Paper > Ipad

Drawing > Ipad Drawing App

Moleskin fits in your pocket, Ipads dont

Ipads are cool for the one time you have new labs on a patients EMR that can actually be accessed by the tampon, i mean ipad, and you look stellar. One time in 1000. Worth 800 dollars? No. Turns out, the commericial lies to you. You actually use a sonogram to get a sonogram... not an ipad.

Not worth it unless you are an early adopter and actually LIKE using things that take LONGER to write notes, take notes, and track data.

 

[kcin]

Paper > Ipad

Drawing > Ipad Drawing App

Moleskin fits in your pocket, Ipads dont

Ipads are cool for the one time you have new labs on a patients EMR that can actually be accessed by the tampon, i mean ipad, and you look stellar. One time in 1000. Worth 800 dollars? No. Turns out, the commericial lies to you. You actually use a sonogram to get a sonogram... not an ipad.

Not worth it unless you are an early adopter and actually LIKE using things that take LONGER to write notes, take notes, and track data.

Have you guys taken a look at something like the HTC flyer? It's a 7" diagonal (smaller than ipad.. little larger than a small notepad) and it has an active digitizer. If you don't know what an active digitizer is it, it lets you use a special stylus that makes it much easier (much more precise and complete palm rejection) to write on the device. They have some work to do still on the flyer (better android software), but I think something like that would be a lot more appropriate than an ipad. What do you guys think?

I'm not suggesting OP buys it for 3rd/4th year, but I think a couple years down the road it might be a viable alternative. I know I'll be looking into similar devices then.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Have you guys taken a look at something like the HTC flyer? It's a 7" diagonal (smaller than ipad.. little larger than a small notepad) and it has an active digitizer. If you don't know what an active digitizer is it, it lets you use a special stylus that makes it much easier (much more precise and complete palm rejection) to write on the device. They have some work to do still on the flyer (better android software), but I think something like that would be a lot more appropriate than an ipad. What do you guys think?

I'm not suggesting OP buys it for 3rd/4th year, but I think a couple years down the road it might be a viable alternative. I know I'll be looking into similar devices then.

I hate mac. I'd rather die than use a tampon. But honestly, there is not a single android tablet than can compete with the ipad right now. If you're an early adopter (tech stuff is so cool! <snort>) then go ahead and get a Zoom, a Galaxy Tab, etc. The technology just isnt there. You'll be disappointed if you sit back actually analyze what you do. If you're a tech nut and take satisfaction in having the latest stuff, than anything I say won't matter anyway. If you're the run of the mill med student, those tablets are going to drag you down... android worse than the ipad. Keep an eye on teh horizon for better products; they just aren't that great right now

 

[kcin]

I hate mac. I'd rather die than use a tampon. But honestly, there is not a single android tablet than can compete with the ipad right now. If you're an early adopter (tech stuff is so cool! <snort>) then go ahead and get a Zoom, a Galaxy Tab, etc. The technology just isnt there. You'll be disappointed if you sit back actually analyze what you do. If you're a tech nut and take satisfaction in having the latest stuff, than anything I say won't matter anyway. If you're the run of the mill med student, those tablets are going to drag you down... android worse than the ipad. Keep an eye on teh horizon for better products; they just aren't that great right now

Yeah, I was talking about a couple years down the line.

 

[WellWornLad]

Have you guys taken a look at something like the HTC flyer?...I'm not suggesting OP buys it for 3rd/4th year, but I think a couple years down the road it might be a viable alternative. I know I'll be looking into similar devices then.

I think the point is that hardware and software has a long way to go before it'll be useful in the day to day grind in the hospital. On the hardware side, I might think about a tablet if it were as easy to write on as paper and didn't weigh more than a couple of ounces. Of course, those are moot points if your hospital EMR system can't communicate, and as most EMR systems have absolutely terrible/nonexistent interfaces to non-house software and glacial development schedules that measure progress in years to decades, I'll stick to paper for the foreseeable future.

 

[CatFactorial]

I hate mac. I'd rather die than use a tampon. But honestly, there is not a single android tablet than can compete with the ipad right now. If you're an early adopter (tech stuff is so cool! <snort>) then go ahead and get a Zoom, a Galaxy Tab, etc. The technology just isnt there. You'll be disappointed if you sit back actually analyze what you do. If you're a tech nut and take satisfaction in having the latest stuff, than anything I say won't matter anyway. If you're the run of the mill med student, those tablets are going to drag you down... android worse than the ipad. Keep an eye on teh horizon for better products; they just aren't that great right now

Agreed on most of that.

However tablets are great consumption devices, so they can be useful at least for preclinical.

 

[Famo]

laptops carry everything you need but if you really want an Ipad i think you should get one.