Review of the Amazon Kindle for the Wards

[GladifImakeit]

Hello. You may recall I was looking for a pocketbook to use on the wards that was easy on the eyes. Well, someone recommended going electronic, so I bought a Kindle Touch ($99). I thought I'd post my review here in case anyone is considering buying one.

I must say, it's pretty great. Small and fits a ton of information. The text is very easy to read and you can make it as big or small as you like. Good availability of books. I have the Mass Gen Pocketbook, a pretest book, and a few others for starters. You can get any book written prior to 1923 for free, which means you can read a lot of classics such as Crime and Punishment, etc, in your spare time. Pretest works well - you can flip from question to answer very easily. You can also get a sample of any book before you buy, and you can return a purchase very easily within the first week. The Kindle is also easy to use, once you get the hang of it.

There are a few downers too. Chiefly, the medical books often have lots of graphs, tables, figures or pictures. Anything that is not the main body of text can be quite problematic. Sometimes, when a table occupies the entire page in the printed book, it gets compressed onto the 6 inch screen, making it nay impossible to read. The Touch has no color either. You can get color and a bigger screen for more money.

So there you have it. Thanks.

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[secants]

Can you fit it into your white coat's pocket? Did you feel that people would frown upon you while you used it on the wards vs a hardcopy book?

 

[GladifImakeit]

Can you fit it into your white coat's pocket? Did you feel that people would frown upon you while you used it on the wards vs a hardcopy book?

It's quite manageable - easily fits into a white coat pocket. I don't think anyone did or would frown on it. I think you'd run more risk of incurring ire using a phone.

You can easily fit 10, 50, 100 books on there and not have to lug anything around. It's really great. You can look up info in reference book, use flashcards that won't get lost, ripped, etc, do practice questions... I don't own a fancy phone so I have no basis for comparison, but Kindle is working quite nicely for me so far!

 

[kautionwirez]

Do you see students in wards carrying their iPads around for the same purpose?

 

[GladifImakeit]

I think this was one reason I got the Kindle instead - I heard people say an Ipad doesn't fit nicely in the white coat. This is just my guess, but I also assume it's more expensive and you pay a monthly premium? The other reason I didn't go with an Ipad is that I just hate Apple products. I hate Safari. I hate Quicktime. I hate Itunes. Yuck. Anyway... good luck finding the right solution for you.

 

[CatFactorial]

Why not just use a smart phone?

 

[GladifImakeit]

Why not just use a smart phone?

Well my issue was bad eyesight so I needed something a little bigger with ease of magnification. Not saying it's for everyone, just putting it out there. I think smart phones have smaller screens and may not be as adeptly designed for reading (e ink), but I'm just guessing. Also, kindle will hold a charge for a month and there's no monthly fee. Also, I'm probably the only person who doesn't already have a smart phone - just a plain ol' boring cell phone.

 

[dr seuss]

I've been thinking about getting a kindle fire. Not as nice as an ipad but way cheaper and it would fit in my white coat.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I think this was one reason I got the Kindle instead - I heard people say an Ipad doesn't fit nicely in the white coat. This is just my guess, but I also assume it's more expensive and you pay a monthly premium? The other reason I didn't go with an Ipad is that I just hate Apple products. I hate Safari. I hate Quicktime. I hate Itunes. Yuck. Anyway... good luck finding the right solution for you.

Yes an iPad is way more expensive.
Yes an iPad is way more useful and you can get a case that lets you just carry it around over your shoulder.
No you don't have to pay a monthly fee unless you have 3G (I assume your hospital has WiFi).

 

[Slack3r]

The Kindle Fire seems like a less capable iPad. Kindle app for the iPad allows you to read Kindle books on the iPad. Personally, if I'm buying a tablet I'm getting the iPad 2, its more capable, and apps (particularly medical apps) are generally developed first, and sometimes only, for Apple.

 

[Perrotfish]

I'm a fan of the kindle fire, not least of all because the hospital is full of thieves and the Kindle is easy to carry in a pocket, looks like a book in its leather case, and is not so expensive that I'd be miserable if it does get stolen

Pro-tip: shell out ten bucks and download a few popular cartoons before your pediatric rotation. Its basically hypnosis for screaming kids.

 

[dr seuss]

The Kindle Fire seems like a less capable iPad. Kindle app for the iPad allows you to read Kindle books on the iPad. Personally, if I'm buying a tablet I'm getting the iPad 2, its more capable, and apps (particularly medical apps) are generally developed first, and sometimes only, for Apple.

It's $500 vs. $200 so of course the ipad is better. I don't think I would want to carry around an ipad all day though. I think you can run ice cream sandwich on the kindle fire so all the android apps would be available on it.

 

[GladifImakeit]

Unrelated, but if Apple gets on your PC (quicktime, itunes, etc), it is like trying to exterminate a bunch of cockroaches.