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Atlas

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How many med students would you say use these gadgets? I've seen some residents and doctor's with them. I'm just wondering how useful one can be for medical school.

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Originally posted by Atlas:
•How many med students would you say use these gadgets? I've seen some residents and doctor's with them. I'm just wondering how useful one can be for medical school.•

PDAs are becoming more and more essential nowadays. Besides the organizer functions, there are great programs available that let you track patients, give you updated drug information/interactions, and do other handy things. I know many medical students who have them, however most wait until their clinical years.

I couldn't wait and took the plunge. There is a program called "AvantGo" which gives you information from the web: news, sports, stocks, movies, restaurants, maps, etc. Definitely worth it for people on the run. :D
 
PDA's are wonderful devices -- almost all of the clinical students and maybe half of the housestaff here have them. One of their most useful programs is called Epocrates, which is a drug database that is updated monthly, and includes a ton of information about any drug you would want to use. In addition to the patient tracker programs, there are also medical formula programs, Infectious Disease programs, reference book programs, etc. I almost feel naked without my Palm Pilot now! :) Also, some medical schools are developing other programs for PDA's to help their students -- things such as Pharm flashcards, Anatomy programs and the like.

But I agree with Vader and would strongly recommend waiting until you start clinics to get one. You don't really need it as a preclinical student, and PDA's are getting cheaper and better so quickly, that if you get one now, it will easily be outdated in 2 years.

One more thing -- if you do get a PDA, make sure you get one of the smaller designs. I had a Palm 3 for a while (before I upgraded to a smaller Palm), and it took up way too much space in my white coat. Also, invest in a good protective covering for your PDA -- it's amazing how much abuse your belongings can take on the wards!
 
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There's a whole thread about this somewhere, with specific recommendations of what to buy, perhaps on the Allopathic part of the site. Do a search and you'll find all sorts of good info.
 
Stanford now is making them standard accessories - giving one to every student, and it is being subsidized, atleast in part, by drug companies that put ads or some such on them. I think Stanford - I'll try to find the article.
 
Originally posted by Jean Valjean:
•Stanford now is making them standard accessories - giving one to every student, and it is being subsidized, atleast in part, by drug companies that put ads or some such on them. I think Stanford - I'll try to find the article.•

Yeah Stanford gives free Palm 5x's to all of their students. They started it with the class below me, so I had to buy my own! :( It's actually not being sponsored by any drug companies -- they got a small discount from 3Com for buying so many in bulk, but that's about it. The students also get a Palm screen cover with the school of medicine seal on it -- but most have been buying a sturdier case for their Palms.
 
Being a gadget guy myself, I'd love to get one. But you should check with your med school first, as others have said here. In a couple years, I bet most schools will be giving them out as standard issue. I'd imagine they are much cheaper for the school to buy them in bulk, and it's much easier for standardization and tech support issues. My school will provide them for the clinical years, and they are paid for by my tuition/fees, so I'll probably wait 'til then. I'm sure whatever I bought today would be woefully inadequate for my standards 2 years from now anyway :D
 
Howdy! I'm getting all excited about mine, which should be arriving at the end of the week sometime. I spent a few days checking out http://www2.pdabuzz.com/Reviews/
and http://www.epinions.com/
giving myself a crash course on the different types. I knew I wanted Palm OS (all the medical software is on this) 8MB, and expansion slot. The extras would be just perks.

The sleeper in the industry is TRG. They released TRGPro last year and it gets solid reviews everywhere. Their new one, Hand Era 330 has all the tweaks and features everyone has been looking for. Anyway, lots of people have been getting them as gifts and weren't busy enough for them. So they're selling at www.half.com (where I ordered mine) www.ebay.com

hope this helps :)
 
Ohhhhhh! toys!!! give me!!! :p

I think these are the things I want:
1. a nice IBM notebook
2. a PDA's
3. and ____________ (to be filled on my next birthday, after a talk with my parents!)

oi oi! :p

cheers!
 
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