Which electronic device is best for 3rd and 4th years?

[Hawaii Girl]

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Hi everyone!

I will be starting my third year clinicals this fall and I was wondering which electronic device would be the most useful to have and use?

- Should I get a PDA or the iPhone which already has a cell phone included?
-Also, I know for iPhones you can get free applications, but I am not sure how easy it is to get applications with other PDA's.
-It would also be great if anyone could tell me the most useful applications that they used during their 3rd and 4th years.

Anyways, your input on this topic would be greatly appreciated since my contract with another phone company ends soon and I have to make a decision. Thanks again 🙂

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I bought a Palm TX. I used it, well, never.

In my experience there is almost always a computer nearby which I find to be faster and much easier to navigate.

Look at the price of an iPhone + the mandatory service plan required and it adds up real fast. Im not going to pay 100$ to have a cool phone with cool apps when there are computers with MUCH faster internet connections nearby.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

None!

 

[asmallchild]

Epocrates is incredibly useful although I find it to be much better on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform as compared to the Palm or Blackberry platform.

If you're talking about non-medical uses, you really can't beat an iPhone for web surfing. And Blackberries for just about everything else (BlackBerry messenger, texting on a hardware keyboard, and of course, neurotically checking email for interviews/rejections)

This year, I was actually stuck in the middle of bedside rounds when it came time for the match day email. I promised myself I would storm out of the patient's room and head straight to the library for my results. Well, I chickened out. Fortunately, my Blackberry gave me the reassuring news I had wanted to see 🙂

 

[truckibear]

I have an Ipod touch (basically the iphone without the phone part) and this past month of medicine, it was invaluable.

I mostly use Epocrates on there plus Skyscape and Diagnosaurus. The first two are free and it was like $2 for Diagnosaurus. Those three programs are pretty much all you need but there are many other apps available, although some of them can get pretty pricey.

The upside though, is that many apps continue to come out for iPhone! Plus since you can easily browse the web on the iPhone (which you can't do with Ipod touch since you don't have wireless unless you can find one to connect to) you can always look up almost anything on wikipedia or other sources.

Besides the medical part though, the best part of the iPhone is all the OTHER apps you can use! You can use the Yelp app to find a good restaurant or use a Chase app to do your banking. I don't know how many people actually use their PDAs or Palms that much but they are super bulky and seem to run slower as well. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Keg]

Our school provided a PDA with Windows Mobile, and I found it invaluable, especially for Epocrates and UpToDate. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of programs for WinMobile. In fact, last month I decided to upgrade my phone to a smartphone to consolidate my devices, and comparing the iPhone, a blackberry, and a windows mobile-based phone, I found that the latter was the best combination of function and ease of use. I ended up getting a Samsung Omnia and installing all my programs on it - no regrets, whatsoever.

 

[Jwax]

I bought an iPod touch (well, my husband bought it for me as a birthday present on my request) so that I could have it for 3rd year. It is both the coolest toy I've owned since I was a kid and every toy was awesome, and I think epocrates/Dxasarous/skyscape are going to be sooo useful next year. I've been playing around with them so I can get used to it for next year and they are great! I was encouraged to get a 32 GB and I thought I'd need it, but I've got all my music on there plus ~20 apps and I'm using maybe 4 GB. So you could probably go for the 8 or 16 GB (each increase in size adds ~$50 to the price). I was originally intending to get an iphone or blackberry but I really didn't want to shell out a lot of money each month, and I didn't want to have to switch networks to get the iphone.