User experience: Yousuf Gaffar

Yousuf Gaffar writes ine:

Hi, Thanks for the wonderful blog. I'm a senior Hematology-Oncology Fellow from Tampa, FL. I have been using PDAs since I graduated Med School in 1998. Palm III, then Visor Deluxe, then Treo 90, now Tungsten T3. In terms of programs: Calculators: Haemonc Rules (Best By Far, most useful); MedRules, Medmath (with Epocrates); Adjuvant! PDA program (adjuvantonline.com) Drug Guides: Epocrates (like updates and pricing of meds that are included); Lexi-Drugs (more info) Chemo Guides: OncoMD 04 (Comprehensive); Adverse event program from Amgen (received at Asco 2004); Chemo RX Plus (but no updates recently) Staging: AJC TNM Other: Documents to Go (ok for schedules, etc); Bonsai (for notes); Repligo (to read PDF Files, including NCCN guidelines). For Fun: Audible (great service); Pocket Tunes (best player). Anyway, I've managed to convert most of the fellows to using their device more often. I hope more MD's use their PDA to maximize their patient care, not just keeping phone numbers and datebook.

Nice to hear from you Yousuf. Have sent you a Gmail invite. 5 more Gmail invites left folks!
Btw, glad to hear you like Haemoncrules. Just to let you know version 1.8 is ready but have been on vacation so will put it up for download when I get back home.

PA ToolBox 5.0

Medical Wizards have released PA Toolbox 5.0 which is a suite of 15 modules for the PA
working in the critical care, emergency or primary care environment.

PA ToolBox provides the most valuable modules from ERSuite for the PA working in the critical care, emergency or primary care environment. This product also provides substantial textbook type content in the areas of ENT and Infectious Disease, covering all common complaints. 15 task specific sections (modules) are now included, with rapid access to content via our easy to use search tool

For the vets too

Skyscape is not forgetting the animal doctors with these two new releases:

ParasitesDC™ (Parasitology: Diagnosis And Treatment Of Common Parasitisms In Dogs And Cats)

The PDA reference is can be used by both the technician and the practitioner in the clinic as a concise, easy to use and accurate means of diagnosing commonly seen parasites of dogs and cats, and to decide on an appropriate treatment protocol. The parasites selected will be those normally occurring in fecal or blood specimens found in North America. Identification will be made on the basis of shape, size and color. As the user moves through the diagnostic, key options will appear which suggest how to proceed toward a diagnosis. When a final diagnosis is made there will be a brief description of clinical signs, infectious stages, organisms with similar characteristics, zoonoses, suggested treatment options, drugs and drug dosages. The program is indexed by organism and by drugs.

VetDrugs™ (Handbook of Veterinary Drugs, 3rd Ed.)

The newly updated Third Edition of the popular Handbook of Veterinary Drugs is now available for PDAs, providing instant access to information on drug therapies for dogs, cats, horses, ruminant species, pigs, birds, rodents, rabbits, ferrets, and reptiles. Entries on over 1,000 drugs include indications, formulations, interactions, common side effects, and adverse effects. Dosages for each species are included.

PDAs in disaster relief

It is now 4 days after the disastrous earthquake north of Sumatra which resulted in devastation across coastal Asia due to tidal waves and tsunamis.

Orenjus of KVPUG (the Klang Valley Palm User Group) is one of the young Malaysian doctors who have volunteered to assist via Mercy Malaysia's efforts. At first he was supposed to go to Acheh but latest from this thread is that he'll be going to Sri Lanka.
I did tell him to go armed with his PDA ;) but Orenjus is worried about bringing along elecronic equipment. I think with a protective casing like the Aquapac, you can keep the Palm (as well as your other electronic equipment like your cellphone) safe and dry. You will need a constant source of power so if one has a Solar powered battery charger, that would be handy too!
I seriously think the Palm PDA would be a useful source of medical reference in disaster relief areas. You can't carry all that info in your head!

All the best Orenjus!

User experience: Richard Wahl

Richard Wahl from Tucson writes;

Hi. Perspectives from a pediatrician -- here are the Palm applications I use most often: General medical: Clinical Medicine Consult (with iSilo), Pepid, Merck (with free journal access). Drug databases: Pepid, Harriet Lane, Prescriber's Letter PDA version (and about to delete the "free, gift subscirption" to ePocrates Pro which arrived anonymously -- just don't trust its feedback to ePocrates central, and I still don't know who paid for it to track my look-up activities. Also extreme RAM hog). Pediatric specific: Kidometer (Riley Children's Hospital), Harriet Lane, AAP Red Book (with free Highwire journal access). Freeware: Growth-BP (formerly stat-Growth), Shots 2004, CDC 2002 STD Guidelines (iSilo), PregWheel, Stat-Hypertension JNC-7, CDC TB Guidelines Misc: Natural Database (CAM modalities), Mobipocket Medical Spanish Plus, Pocket OBG. PDA: Tungsten-C with 512MB SD card. And love it's Wi-Fi ability to surf and check e-mail in my local cafe.

Thanks for the contribution Richard. I agree the Tungsten C is a great Wifi capable PDA. Now with the Wifi SD Card I appreciate the ability to surf and check email too but I do find it a tad bit inconvenient to swop SD cards. I need Bluetooth however as I rely on it to communicate with my phone (an SE t610) for SMS and GPRS internet access where there is no Wifi. So please, please palmOne, do release a dual wireless PDA!!
A free Gmail invitation goes out to Richard for writing in. I have 6 Gmail invitations left, so if you want to grab these, just write in and share your Palm medical experiences!

User experience: Luiz Eduardo

Luiz Eduardo from São Paulo, Brazil writes:

I follow Medical Palm software since the days of my Palm Vx 5 years ago. When I started my internship in Ophthalmology 3 years ago I was the only one with a Palm device (a m505), out of 19 residents; now there are 10 residents with Palm devices. We all use Skyscape Will´s Eye Manual, IOL calculation software and Epocrates Dx. And all of these devices were configured by myself, most of them T3 and TE. Keep up the great blog.

Thanks for writing in Luiz. A Gmail invitation has been sent out to you. 7 Gmail invites left folks....

WeightWatchers for Palm

I was a little amused to read that WeightWatchers have recently released a program for PDAs that work hand-in-hand with the company's online services. The Weight Watchers on-the-Go mobile program will eliminate the need to carry around a log-book and is ahandy way to carry the 25,000 item food database.
I am amused because some time back, someone offered a simlar program for free to WW - called WWCalc, but it became The App That Weight Watchers Tried To Kill

User experience: Bill Whitty

Bill writes:

Well First of all I use to have epocrates but since I bought my Treo 650 I have switched to davis drugs for nurses till epocrates comes out with SD transfer. Also I use tabes from Skyscape and Medcalc. Use to use infusical but also doesn't work on Treo's. Lastly I use Isilo with Clinical Medicine Consultant. Hope that is of some help. Bill

Thanks for your feedback Bill. Interesting that you had to stop using ePocrates with your Treo650. The amount of memory in the Treo smartphones does not appeal to me as a 64MB T3 user - I could never switch simply because of this. There are alot of applications which nowadays need regular Ram and the likes of ePocrates still don't support SD cards!!!
A free Gmail invite goes out to you Bill. I have 8 GMail invitations left so if anyone wants one, all you have to do is write to me and relate your Palm Medical experience and share with us what you consider your favorite Palm medical software.

Merry Christmas!

Medical Imaging Consultant

Orrison Books and the USBMIS have released Medical Imaging Consultant, the PDA version.
This is available for both the Palm and Pocket PC platforms.
"With all the same great diagnosing information that can be found in the Print Edition, the Medical Imaging Consultant, PDA Edition allows physicians to order The One Best Test in diagnostic imaging in an intuitive, electronic format."

Reminder: Free Gmail Invitations!

I have 9 Gmail invitations left. If you would like one, all you have to do is to email me your Medical Palm PDA experience with regard to how it is useful in your daily work and your favorite applications. A free Gmail invitation goes out to every email published.
Gmail now supports free forwarding of email and also Pop access - you can configure your Versamail or Snappermail to check Gmail on the go. There is no official mobile-friendly Gmail web interface yet but if you have access to a PHP server, you can install Gmail-lite

RxCalc 4.1

RxCalc 4.1 has been updated

RxCalc (formerly known as Dosecalc) is an essential tool for Pediatricians. With this you can: - Easily calculate medication doses - Obtain extensive information available of each of the medications: - Work out Oral & Single-Dose Bolus Medications The new version of RxCalc is now fully compatible with the T5, as well as the Treo 600 and 650.

User experience: Brendan Vaughan

Brendan Vaughan writes in:

We are still in an age of innocence with medical handhelds. One can pull up a prognosis on a patients rash/ache/ailment at the point-of-care from a peer reviewed text, and not lose any credibility in the process - rather, I am greeted with choruses of "cool" (from the younger ones) or "does that do your taxes too?" from the older ones (to which, of course, I answer yes!). But even when handhelds have become de rigeur in the eyes of patients the enormous potential for these little devices to become personal guideline/reference repositories is amazing. I use four programs to achieve just this on a daily basis: iSilo, Repligo, Bonsai and PDAToolbox. Isilo, and its companion iSiloX make it wonderfully easy to clip web-based reference material into my handheld (often nicely hyperlinked). For those ubiquitous .PDF pages, repligo is the fastest, most faithful to the original, and easiest to use document converter on the market (now I just have to get it talking to my printer via bluetooth for patient handouts). Bonsai origanizes my clinical pearls from conferences, journals etc. in a heirarchechal fashion. Finally PDAToolbox is a great solution for non-programmers, such as myself, to make fully functioning, reasonably robust palm apps in a short amount of time. I have have made several of these, useful to myself clinically, not to mention the "you wrote this" exclamations from colleagues. Indeed, medicine, with its reference-intensive demands is the handhelds "killer app".

Thanks for sharing your experience Brendan. A Gmail invitation goes out to you.
9 Gmail invites left folks!

Clinical Hematology Oncology 2005

Pacific Primary Care has released Clinical Hematology Oncology 2005

An extensive reference text on the presentation, diagnosis, treatment and differential of Hem-Onc conditions. Topics include: cancers, Oncologic Emergencies, DVT, pulmonary embolism, the anemia's, lead toxicity, sickle cell, prophyria, cancer syndromes & tx, blood cell abnormalities, transfusion medicine, bleeding disorders, DIC... Features: illustrations and hyperlinks. Detailed workups and extensive treatment options. Edited by a board certified Hematologist-Oncologist.

Gmail invitations up for grabs!

Just got a whole bunch of Gmail invitations - 10 to be exact. Care for one? Now here's the deal: if you write to me telling me of your favorite Palm medical applications and how using a Palm PDA has enriched your life/made things easy etc - I'll give out a free Gmail invite to the author of every email that gets published here....

If you haven't heard of Gmail - this is Google's webmail which is stil in beta but works very well. 1 GB storage and 10MB size attachments allowed. It's fast and I love the ability to search your emails. You literalyl never have to delete your emails again. It's free and not open to the public yet. It's by invitation only......

C-Tools Pocket Pc Version Released

The Americal Cancer Society has in partnership with Alterion, released C-Tools 2.0 Beta for Pocket PC.
The PalmOS beta program was launched earlier and hopefully both final versions will be release in January 2005 according to the ACS.
Anyway it's good that there are now lots of medical programs on both Palm and PPC platforms giving us the choice. If palmOne doesn't release a dual wireless PDA next year, Palmdoc may well become PPCDoc ;)

Hires from Unbound

In their latest newsletter, Unbound Medicine says their new apps support high resolution Portrait and Landscape Modes are now available for devices that support it, such as the new Palm Tungsten T5. This is great news since this means a 50% larger viewing area in one go. Skyscape had better catch up.

Wifi for the Treo650

Why wait for palmOne to get their act together? If you have a Treo650 you can get Wifi now. I am amazed how innovative the Palm community is!

New Skyscape apps

Here's a quartet of new releases from Skyscape:

EchoGuide™ (The Ultimate Echo Guide)

The perfect quick consult for the busy cardiologist, The Ultimate Echo Guide for PDA puts the most clinically essential information from the text manual in a convenient electronic format ideal for your handheld. Expertise is at your fingertips... * Diagnostic methods and formulas help you choose the best echo modality for each patient, and aid in analysis of results. * Key diagnostic features help you recognize specific pathologies. * Specific echocardiographic parameters help you stratify a disease as mild, moderate, or severe. * Concise, straightforward text with bullet points lets you access key information at a glance. * Tables and selected illustrations promote accurate interpretation of echo results and assist in therapeutic decision-making and follow-up. * Cross-reference to all LWW titles powered by Skyscape for a powerful interlinking point-of-care tool.

emPlastic™ (eMedicine Plastic Surgery)

This is a completely current reference volume consisting of 204 comprehensive, but concise, disease-specific review articles. Each article undergoes 4 levels of physician peer-review and follows a consistent format. This volume, authored and edited by 279 contributing physicians, is designed for use by practicing physicians, academicians and residents to provide rapid answers to clinical questions.

emPsych™ (eMedicine Psychiatry)

This is a completely current reference volume consisting of 73 comprehensive, but concise, disease-specific review articles. Each article undergoes 4 levels of physician peer-review and follows a consistent format. This volume, authored and edited by over 60 contributing physicians, is designed for use by practicing physicians, academicians and residents to provide rapid answers to clinical questions.

emSurg™ (eMedicine Surgery & Surgical Specialties)

This is a completely current reference volume consisting of 179 comprehensive, but concise, disease-specific review articles. Each article undergoes 4 levels of physician peer-review and follows a consistent format. Sections include General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Thoracic Surgery, Transplantation, Trauma, Urology and Vascular Surgery.

Skweezer

We doctors are always in a hurry. Our PDAs allow us to be mobile road warriors with which we can check our email and access web pages on the go.
Here's an interesting site for those of you who access the Internet wirelessly from your PDAs: Skweezer.
What's the advantage? It compresses and formats the web pages automagically to PDA friendly sizes. It does so very quickly too. I am impressed by the speed. When you sign up (for FREE), you are also given a clean webmail interface with which you configure your POP email accounts and you can check and send email via Skweezer. This would be great if your POP mail account restricts the SMTP (send mail) only when you are connected to certain ISPs.
Well I have signed up and will be skweezing away with my T3 :)

Accessing information

While the PDA is a handy source of information at the "point of care", there's only so much that you can keep on it, even with a 1GB SD Card. Yeah, Palmdoc got himself a 1 GB Kingmax Card - all for only US$89!
Still, I think the way forward is to access information via the Internet and wirelessly. This is why I believe palmOne should and must come out quickly with a dual wireless PDA and not just concentrate on the smartphone market. You can Google for information using the PDA friendly Google Search for Palm. Now there's news of Google teaming up with libraries so that the already vast pool of information becomes even larger. So no matter how fast SD card capacity increases, it'll never be enough!

Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide

Unbound Medicine has released Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide 2005 2.1 on Palmgear.

Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide 2005 includes over 1,000 commonly used drugs and presents essential data relating to their selection and administration. Organized alphabetically by generic and trade name, each drug includes key data featuring common uses and side effects as well as nursing implications and patient education information. A list of the medications organized by drug classification is also provided.

Yet another drug reference for your PDA. There are so many now it is mind boggling. I have had a chance to check out quite a few and most are good. However if it comes down to the most comprehensive drug reference for the Palm, my vote goes to Lexi-drugs

KISS

/rant on
I've been feeling kinda unsettled ever since palmOne released the T5 putting a damper on my hopes of a better Palm powered PDA than my T3. Mind you the T3 is a superb PDA bar it's rather poor battery life (it has only a 900 mA battery compared with the T5's 1300mA) but it has vibrating alarms and a voice recorder while not being absolutely essential, they are nice options which palmOne was foolish to omit on the T5. I did get palmOne's SD Wifi card thereby temporarily satisfying my need to be "connected" whenever and wherever I am - be it via GPRS or Wifi.
What I do hope to see is a palmOne powered device, without the slider (I do like the T5's design) yet with dual wireless, voice recorder and vibrating alarms. I don't see how it can be so difficult for palmOne to come out with one since the PPC camp has had dual wireless devices for yonks.
But is it the beginning of the end for palmOne and the palmOS platform? I am even more confused now that Palmsource has announced that OS6/Cobalt (in grave danger of being stillborn) will have a Linux kernel. So where does this leave palmOne? Will they go merrily along their way in smartphone-land (sounds like Handspring all over again..) and even (heaven forbid) produce a Windoze powered smartphone? Will the T5 be the last palmOS powered PDA by palmOne?
I hope not. Many doctors I am certain appreciate things simple. The K.I.S.S. principle. A surgeon colleague "danced with the dark side" recently when he got an Acer PPC to replace his dead Clie. After about two weeks, he realised how horribly unfriendly the PPC platform is compared to palmOS and now he is a happy owner of a T|E.
I dread the day we are forced to see Microsoft everywhere. ERDoc has this horrifying report of an ECG machine which needs to REBOOT just because it runs Windoze!!
Long live Palm!
/rant off

P.S. Just to share this great cartoon warning one of the dangers of Windoze in hospitals ;)

Game to motivate

I guess it's not surprising. In Wireless Game Motivates Children with Type 1 Diabetes to Improve Monitoring, a study looked at how a wireless-equipped personal digital assistant (PDA), linked with blood glucose management software and DiaBetNet, could assist in diabetes management among youth.

The study, recently published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, found that youth ages 8-18 with type 1 diabetes were more apt to monitor their blood glucose levels more often when engaged in a game called DiaBetNetTM -- an application that integrates blood glucose, insulin dosing, and carbohydrate intake data and challenges users to predict their next blood glucose levels. DiaBetNet was created by Vikram Kumar, a medical student at the time in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, together with MIT Professor Alex Pentland, Ph.D., and Lori Laffel, M.D., M.P.H., head of Joslin's Pediatric and Adolescent section.

I have an idea for Astraware. Why not come out with a special Medical Student Edition of Bejewelled 2? Astraware could work with Skyscape or Unbound Medicine with this edition where every third round of Bejewelled 2 takes you to a chapter of Harrison's Internal Medicine or perhaps a Medical CME quiz which you are required to complete before proceeding on to the next level. Now that might be a best-seller ;)

Clinical Trial Info on your Palm

For the first time you can access clinical trial information on your PDA.
Skyscape has released DrugStudies™ (Thomson CenterWatch Clinical Trial Listings)

Thomson CenterWatch is dedicated to providing patients and their advocates with a variety of information services and educational materials on clinical research. The Clinical Trials Listing Service™ Database includes listings of thousands of industry-sponsored clinical trials that are actively recruiting patients in the U.S. and internationally. This also includes government-funded clinical research studies being conducted by the National Institutes of Health, including trial listings from the National Cancer Institute and from the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. Key Features * Dynamic database listing current phase I - IV clinical trials recruiting patients (approx. 14,000 private industry sponsored trial listings). * Accessible through therapeutic area or geographic location. * Clinical trial listings are IRB (Institutional Review Board)-approved and meet GCP (Good Clinical Practice) guidelines. * All therapeutic areas. * Access to hundreds of Research Center profiles. * Updated monthly.

They have also released DrugTrials™ (Thomson CenterWatch Pipeline Intelligence)

Users will be able to keep up with the latest in scientific clinical trial activity and drug development using market intelligence and knowledge resources from CenterWatch, the leading resource for the clinical trials industry. This highly valuable resource has 4 components to help you monitor and stay abreast of medical breakthroughs on the frontiers of medicine: - Drugs in Clinical Trials - Clinical Trial Results - Newly Approved Drugs - Clinical Trials Listing Service

Agendus 9 Pro

For the medical road warrior, I believe that Agendus is the best PIM replacement there is for PalmOS. I rely heavily on it and in fact I use it to track my patients by keeping notes "logged" into the Contact note field. It is particularly useful for doctors since we are very "contact-centric" in our meetings and appointments.
Agendus 9 Pro has been released with numerous new features. The speed has also been enhanced and there is no more slow sorting of the contacts on start-up.
Visit the iambic Agendus Pro website for more details.

PubMed on Tap v1.6

PubMed on Tap v1.6 update is now available. A great utility for online access to Pubmed from your PDA or smartphone.

These features are new in Version 1.6: * At startup, the Search and Profile settings are set from your last search. * You have the option to cluster results by clinical relevance recommended in Evidence Based Medicine. * The Search defaults to return 50 results. 20 and 40 results are other options. * If there is a linkout to free-full-text, the linkout icon is green. * Error messages are more meaningful. Please try the new version and let us know what you think. There is also new documentation: a PowerPoint file with screen shots from both Palm and PocketPC devices. Download this training guide from http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/pmot/docs.php

5MCC2005 Unbound

Unbound Medicine has also released their version of the popular 5 Minute Clinical Consult 2005
New in the 2005 edition:
* Auto-Updates when you sync!
* New Topics such as personality disorders, peritonsillar abscess, methanol poisoning, multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN), and CNS tuberculosis.
* Updates to more than 50% of the topics since the 2004 edition
* Landscape view for Palm OS and Pocket PC devices

The last bit is interesting. I wonder if it also supports 320x480 in portrait mode? That would put it one up against Skyscape which has yet to support Hires+!

Ferritest

Another new release from Skyscape, FerriTests™ (Ferri's Best Test - A Practical Guide to Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging) helps direct readers to the most efficient and cost-effective imaging and laboratory studies for any diagnostic challenge. Written by best-selling author Fred Ferri, MD, FACP, Ferri's Best Test presents complete guidance on both radiologic and laboratory approaches in a single, user-friendly source.

USMLE S3

Skyscape has just released USMLE S3 (Crush Step 3, 2nd Ed.)

The market leader among all books for Step 3, Crush is an easy-to-use and effective high yield review for USMLE Step 3. The concise presentation is perfect for the busy house officer who needs a review that hits all the commonly tested concepts. The coverage also weaves in the case-based scenarios that are important part of Step 3.

Flash cards for Medstudents

Something medical students could use. If you want to keep notes and quiz yourselves, then you might want to take a look at the freebie Lexi 3.5

Description: Lexi is a free flashcard program that helps you to study any topic, anywhere, at your pace. You may use it to memorize vocabulary, or to practice any other subject that can be written as a pair of question (prompt) and answer on flashcards. The program stores your quiz results and uses them to re-ask you the questions you missed the answer and to compile the most difficult quizzes. This makes sure that learning with Lexi is as effective as possible.

PsychoPharm

Skyscape has released PsychoPharm™ (Psychopharmacotherapy at Your Finger Tips: A Life Span Approach) on Palmgear.

This convenient handheld reference is a quick one-stop guide to prescribing psychotropic drugs for patients at every stage of the life span—children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. With a tap of a stylus, clinicians can get reliable, succinct, and easy-to-scan information about any drug, including what formulations are available, how to prescribe for each age group, how the drug compares to alternative treatments, and what precautions are necessary. Coverage encompasses all current psychotherapeutic medications, including agents used to treat substance abuse.

Wifi and the T5 (part 2)

Leo of MedPDA.net points out that PDAs equipped with Wifi do not cause problems for patients iwth implantable cardiac devices. True, I guess - if you search in Pubmed for "patient with ICD drops dead after turning on Wifi" you won't find any result I'll bet!
So everyone now with a T5 who wants Wifi can safely go get palmOne's SD Wifi card especially since palmOne has released an Updated Driver which supports the T5. palmOne has also relased a new version of the Phonelink Update utility. I am glad that palmOne has done so. My belief is that PDAs are evolving into communication devices. It is not all about smartphones though since connectivity includes Wifi and Bluetooth.
As for me I am still waiting for that elusive dual wireless PDA from palmOne!!

Big Red Palm

The Big Red Book comes to your Palm with the release of AHFS DI (AHFS Drug Information) by Skyscape

First published in 1959, the "Big Red Book," as it's come to be known, has gone the extra mile for pharmacists and healthcare professionals seeking answers to the most detailed questions. It provides more extensive evidence-based data than any other drug reference and is now available for the PDA.

Donate a PDA and fight AIDS

HELP FIGHT AIDS IN AFRICA BY DONATING USED PDAs

For World AIDS Day: Skyscape and SATELLIFE Will Refit Handheld Devices with Medical References and Donate Them to Doctors in Africa

HUDSON, MASS.­December 1, 2004 ­Most of the seven million Americans who upgrade to a new PDA every year simply throw their used one away or put it in a drawer not knowing what to do with it. Skyscape and SATELLIFE are creating a “Global Supply Line” that will eliminate this waste and put old handheld devices to good use­by donating them to physicians in Africa. Skyscape will equip these handheld devices with mobile medical references enabling health practitioners in the developing world to access the latest medical information while working in rural areas. This program begins December 1, 2004 (World AIDS Day). “Like cell phones, PDA turnover is high as new models are introduced. This holiday season many PDAs will be retired, but these can be put to good use: helping doctors in developing nations provide better healthcare,” said Sandeep Shah, CEO of Skyscape. “For more than a decade we have been developing different ways by which mobile medicine can improve healthcare. Now teaming with SATELLIFE, Skyscape is bringing these benefits to the farthest corners of the world.” Anyone wishing to donate their used PDA should visit, www.skyscape.com/AIDSDAY for more information.

Good job guys. Now go get that T5/Treo650 upgrade and donate your ol' Vx/m515/T|T etc. !

Skyscape and Samsung

Samsung must be targetting physicians for their smartphones as they have been reported to tie up with Skyscape:

Skyscape(R), Inc. (www.skyscape.com) and Samsung Telecommunications America (www.samsungusa.com/wireless) today announced a strategic alliance aimed at bringing the best in mobile medicine to a new generation of converged wireless devices by co-marketing Skyscape-powered software on select Samsung phones. The Skyscape Constellation for Samsung Phones, an intuitive, all-in-one healthcare decision support solution, provides comprehensive coverage of critical information about drugs, diseases, interactions, lab information and treatment options. Customers who purchase the Mobile Medical Solutions for the Samsung Mobile Intelligent Terminal (MITs) devices, the PalmSource OS(R)-based i500 and Microsoft(R) Windows Mobile(TM)-based i700 Pocket PC Phone, will be able to purchase the Skyscape Constellation for Samsung Phones at a significantly discounted price of $179, a savings of $164 from the standard subscription price. An evaluation copy of the Skyscape Constellation for Samsung Phones ships with every purchase of the Mobile Medical Solutions for Samsung Phones.

Samsung produces nifty PalmOS powered smartphones like the i500 reviewed by The Gadgeteer. I believe they have released OS5 models as well. I don't know why they don't market their phones in my region - we see only Treos and the GSL Xplorers. Well, if there is a PalmOS powered smartphone with at least 64MB Ram, replaceable batteries, dual wireless then I might be interested. Otherwise I'm sticking with my T3 + Sony-Ericsson t610!