pda's in med school

[ssj27krillin]

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are there any med schools that either require you to have a certain pda or a pda they supply or is it ok to use anyone i want?

 

[diggitybop]

whats a pda? seriously though contact schools to know for sure.

 

[smq123]

are there any med schools that either require you to have a certain pda or a pda they supply or is it ok to use anyone i want?

Depends on the school. Some schools don't require one at all.

I doubt that many schools supply a pda, but they might want you to have a specific one. My school requires that you have a pda that uses Palm (not Windows) because we have unique software that only runs on Palm. Other schools just want you to have epocrates, so you can use pretty much whatever you want.

 

[Law2Doc]

are there any med schools that either require you to have a certain pda or a pda they supply or is it ok to use anyone i want?

Most schools don't require them, but they will come in handy in 3rd and 4th year (to look up drugs and have a dose calculator handy). They are of limited/no value prior to 3rd year so I wouldn't get one until then regardless. You will not have any use for them for first or second year classes. The technology may improve or the price may go down in two years so it is disadvantageous to buy them so far in advance of when they will be useful.

 

[Dr_Dan_the_man]

UVM supplies their students with a Laptop in 1st year and a PDA for the clerkship years....

but they also said they might get rid of the pda thing in the next few yrs because of all the new technology and people buying PDA-phone combo's... so basically you will likely have the choice of purchasing whatever you want

 

[AppTrail]

Most schools don't require them, but they will come in handy in 3rd and 4th year (to look up drugs and have a dose calculator handy). They are of limited/no value prior to 3rd year so I wouldn't get one until then regardless. You will not have any use for them for first or second year classes. The technology may improve or the price may go down in two years so it is disadvantageous to buy them so far in advance of when they will be useful.

I disagree. They can help with organization and it might be a good idea to get one earlier to get familiar with it

 

[ssj27krillin]

UVM supplies their students with a Laptop in 1st year and a PDA for the clerkship years....

but they also said they might get rid of the pda thing in the next few yrs because of all the new technology and people buying PDA-phone combo's... so basically you will likely have the choice of purchasing whatever you want

i'm due for a verizon wireless phone upgrade now so i'm thinking about getting a smartphone with windows mobile. Also about using them 1st and 2nd year, i think it would be good to have to check emails and always have internet without carrying around a laptop.

 

[VneZonyDostupa]

iPod Touch all the way. Put jailbreak on it, just got the new Voip program (free phone in wifi areas, which is the whole city), so basically a better version of the iPhone.

 

[SoFlaKnight]

I personally find it nauseating and inconsiderate...just get a room already

 

[diosa428]

Duke also gives (and by gives, I mean hands out and charges you for) a laptop first year and a PDA second year. I'd wait until you've figured out where you're going before you purchase one, unless you really have a use for it now.

 

[Ashers]

MCW gives M2s a pda at the end of the year so they have some time to get used to them. Then M3s and M4s provide the M2s with games (which distracted me while studying for step 1). We got a Tungsten TX, and I heard they're talking about starting to give out Treos, but student's will have to pay for Sprint phone service, or so the rumors go.

We have to log patient encounters on them. The most useful things about the PDA, though, are epocrates and the games.

 

[Maxprime]

At one of the schools I applied to, they don't provide them - but I'm almost positive you're locked into the Palm OS. They use them for tracking what you do as a student (log procedures, etc.).

Regardless, I'd hold off unless you are really awful with technology and can't pick up Graffiti in a week.

 

[TexanGirl]

I personally find it nauseating and inconsiderate...just get a room already

I agree, can you believe med schools are starting to require it?

 

[VneZonyDostupa]

At one of the schools I applied to, they don't provide them - but I'm almost positive you're locked into the Palm OS. They use them for tracking what you do as a student (log procedures, etc.).

Regardless, I'd hold off unless you are really awful with technology and can't pick up Graffiti in a week.

Most programs on Palm OS can be run on other OS's (Windows Mobile, OSX) pretty easily, so no worries there.

 

[smq123]

Most programs on Palm OS can be run on other OS's (Windows Mobile, OSX) pretty easily, so no worries there.

The program that we are required to use (known as PELS - Patient Encounter Log System, or something like that) will only run on Palm. I don't even want to think about the hassle it would be to try and get it to work on Windows.

 

[drgop1]

Well, im keeping my treo 650, it is old and beaten up but still works but heck it will save me some 200Dlls!!! less to worry about. I has worked well with all the programs i installed, i hope it can go all the way....

 

[Ashers]

The program that we are required to use (known as PELS - Patient Encounter Log System, or something like that) will only run on Palm. I don't even want to think about the hassle it would be to try and get it to work on Windows.

Ours only run on Palm too. Our patient encounter log thing is called iforms... the bane of all M3s. Some rotations grade you on them, making sure you see enough patients and a wide enough variety of patients. So annoying.

Well, im keeping my treo 650, it is old and beaten up but still works but heck it will save me some 200Dlls!!! less to worry about. I has worked well with all the programs i installed, i hope it can go all the way....

This depends on your school. Other people in my class have PDAs, but they also have to use the school's due to standarizing the programs and stuff. At my school, I've heard 2 options for paying for the PDA: 1) The alumni assoc pays for it. 2) It's worked into our tuition.

I'm leaning towards 2, but either way, we never see an extra bill for it. I was planning on getting an Axim at the start of med school, but I held off because I found out that we were provided with PDAs for M3 year.

 

[xanthomondo]

Well, im keeping my treo 650, it is old and beaten up but still works but heck it will save me some 200Dlls!!! less to worry about. I has worked well with all the programs i installed, i hope it can go all the way....

what kind of abbreviation is that??

 

[VneZonyDostupa]

The program that we are required to use (known as PELS - Patient Encounter Log System, or something like that) will only run on Palm. I don't even want to think about the hassle it would be to try and get it to work on Windows.

All you need is an emulator. Takes literally less than 5 minutes to get it up and running, no hassle. Even have it on my ipod touch.

 

[IUHoosier21]

IU requires PDAs for the 3/4 years. They're "given" to us after we pay $100/year for a "technology fee." Rumor has it that we're going to iPhones. We shall see.