The Palmdoc Chronicles has moved house

Exciting news.
First of all, I've got a proper domain name, at last. You can now access the Palmdoc Chronicles simply by surfing over to

http://palmdoc.net

The new site is hosted on a server which uses the Wordpress publishing engine. I like Wordpress as I am familiar with it, there are many beautiful templates I can use and more importantly I can categorise posts and search posts as it is database driven.
While Blogger has served me well all these years, it is time to move on.
So ladies and gentlemen, please change your web links and your bookmarks to http://palmdoc.net
If you are using Feedburner, I've changed the feed to point to the new RSS feed, If you are using Bloglines or some other RSS feed reader, you may point the reader directly to the new site's RSS feed, http://palmdoc.net/?feed=rss2

This will be the last post on Blogger. Thank you for your attention.

ICIS PocketPACS

Press Release: Global Care Quest Announces ICIS PocketPACS(via MedGadget )

ICIS PocketPACS, the newest member of healthcare software developer Global Care Quest, Inc.’s Integrated Clinical Information System (ICIS) line up, is an advanced viewing application that can take images from virtually any Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and send it to a handheld device or mobile smartphone via wireless Internet or high-speed cellular phone network. The system displays and manipulates chest X-rays, bone X-rays, CT scans, MRI scans, and most other medical imaging modalities. ICIS PocketPACSBeyond simple image display, ICIS PocketPACS offers a number of advanced viewing functions including zoom, pan, multi-slice scrolling, Cine mode, window-level contrast adjustments, and Image inversion and rotation. The system will display all PACS images at the maximum screen size and image resolution of which the handheld device is capable. In most situations ICIS PocketPACS displays diagnostic quality images suitable for assessment and patient triaging.

Nice to see them use the Treo as an example. Even with the Treo's 320x320 screen, I really don't know how sharp the X-ray images will turn out. Still, interesting use of technology but I suspect this will evolve as the hardware gets better and better.

Dx/Rx: Palliative Cancer Care

New in Palmgear: Dx/Rx: Palliative Cancer Care

Details precise, up-to-date information on palliative cancer care. Key Features * Provides a look at the field of pallative care which has been emerging in cancer centers across the nation * Concisely and precisely introduces this vital aspect of oncologic care * Discusses cancer pain and palliative care in a very understandable context * New interactive flowcharts: Now, complex algorithms and protocols are transformed from static images into dynamic step-by-step decision support tools. See how this innovative feature can quickly and easily walk you through even the most intricate decision models. * Built-in Medical Calculator: Equianalgesic Doses of Common Opioids Form provides instant access from within topics

Beta: Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia, PDA Edition

Tarascon Publishing and USBMIS, Inc. would like to offer you the opportunity to be one of the first to test-drive the newest PDA version of the Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia.
Visit http://www.usbmis.com/beta for more information and to get your Beta copy of the new Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia for your PDA.

The new Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia, PDA Edition is now more complete than ever. Many additional features join the existing trusted content to create the most valuable drug reference available for Palm and Pocket PC devices.

New Features Include:

• New Graphical Interface gives the application a sharp, new look for hi-resolution devices
• 6 New Calculators assist with adult GFR, pediatric GFR, Temperature Conversions, and Weight Conversions
• New Content Preferences feature allows users to customize the order in which content is displayed in their application
• New Bookmarks enables further customization of frequently-used content
• Improved Device Support now includes support for higher resolutions, larger screens and Palm landscape mode.

Beta testing for the new Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia, PDA edition is going on now and will be open until Aug 2nd, 2006.

Must-have Medical Apps for your PDA

I thought of kicking off a series of "Must-have Medical Apps" for your PDA as it would be useful for doctors starting off with their new PDA or Smartphone.
PalmOS or PPC platforms welcome. Perhaps we'll start off for those of you in General Practice or General Medicine.
Please add your suggestions in this forum or post your comment here.

Watch out for the next post: Must-have Medical Apps for your PDA - General Medicine

Harrison’s Practice

Harrison's Practice is a completely new resource from the expert editors of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Practical, concise answers to your clinical questions are presented in an innovative and easy-to-navigate format that helps you quickly find everything you need to establish a diagnosis and select the right treatment option. With Unbound Medicine's unique PDA, Web and Wireless platform you can carry Harrison's Practice anywhere! Intuitive built-in navigation helps you quickly review information and link to related topics. Regular updates are delivered automatically on the Web and when you synchronize your handheld.

My Procedures v1.1

My Procedures v1.1 is a freebie which trainees and students who need to keep medical procedure logs might want to have in their PDAs.
Description:
"My Procedures" lets you track your procedures, from your pda or Windows desktop, print a list of your procedures, with a spreadsheet, and email a list of your procedures.

New Skyscape Releases

Dx/Rx: Leukemia 9.0.7
Dx/Rx: Leukemia (DxRxLeuk) provides a comprehensive review of the leukemias and myeloproliferative disorders.
Dx/Rx: Breast Cancer 9.0.5
Dx/Rx: Breast Cancer is a complete but concise reference that covers staging, monoclonal antibody therapy, genetic aspects of breast cancer, and prevention strategies, among other important topics.
FDA Guide to Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins 9.0.7
Badbugs is an essential mobile reference that provides the basic facts regarding the characteristic disease symptoms of foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins.

Medical Imaging Consultant

Medical Imaging Consultant PDA Edition by USBMIS is the ordering physician’s quick reference for diagnostic imaging exams. It provides portable, fast access to extensive information that will help determine whether image testing is necessary, and if so, assist in choosing the most appropriate exam.

With interlinked content and a custom designed user interface, the Medical Imaging Consultant PDA Edition provides the most convenient and accurate way to select the single, best exam.

Features include:

* Current information for over 350 clinical conditions
* Data on diagnostic procedure
* Clinical benefit
* CPT Code
* Medicare reimbursement
* Radiation in chest X-ray equivalents
* Overall risk factors
* Clearly divided pediatric and adult sections
* Easy-search index

Superb Palm Service

Thought I'd digress from the usual medical software news and give credit where it's due. My Treo650 gave trouble - the keyboard became unresponsive at several sections. I called up Palm Asia and without much trouble, got an SRO number for an exchange with a refurbished unit (the usual practice). I was expecting a downtime of 72 hours or thereabouts and I switched to my Dell Axim x50v for synchronizing Outlook Data between my work and home PCs, and for a phone my backup was my old trusty SEt68i. Needless to say, the Dell made a mess of the sync and I ended up with numerous duplicates. Luckily I also have MapiLab Outlook Duplicate remover installed and this removed the dupes like grease lightning.
Anyway the happy story is when I sent my Treo650 to the Palm Drop Zone which happened to be fairly near where I work, I got an immediate swop!. So the down-time was really minimal, less than 24 hours. Kudos to Palm. Great service once again, thank you.

PalmPDF updated

I use PalmPDF a lot to read full text Journal articles in their original Adobe PDF format. This great freeware has been updated to version 1.3 and you can downloaod it from their website.
(via MobileRead)

Basic Concepts In Pharmacology

USBMIS and McGraw-Hill have launched a portable survival guide for the most difficult-to-learn concepts in pharmacology. Now available for both the Palm and Pocket PC platforms, Basic Concepts in Pharmacology contains an organized approach to the hundreds of drugs covered in pharmacology classes today. The unique design and ease of organization in this application yields greater retention and reduces stress for the pharmacology student preparing for a course review or for the board exams.

Basic Concepts in Pharmacology, PDA edition provides all of the same valuable information as the print edition, as well as many additional features that can only be found within the PDA edition, in addition to the overall convenience of portable, mobile technology.

Features Include:

* Automatic updates to all chapters reflecting the latest advances in practice
* Bookmarks personalize your application for the information you access most frequently
* Interlinked content and a comprehensive index for easy searching
* Key concepts and definitions highlight essential information
* Charts, Tables and Illustrations allow easy comprehension of complex material

ActiveECG goes Bluetooth

ActiveECG for Palm Handhelds Now Available with Bluetooth Connectivity

CASTINE, Maine - June 21, 2006 - Active Corporation, Inc., producer of portable medical devices used "when life is on the lineT," today announced the availability of a new BluetoothR adapter for their ActiveECGT cardiac monitor. For a limited time, the Bluetooth adapter will be offered to new ActiveECG customers for free.

ActiveECG is an inexpensive, handheld, professional cardiac monitor which provides diagnostic quality cardiac monitoring on PalmR handheld devices. The Bluetooth adapter for ActiveECG provides users with access to a wide variety of Palm handheld devices including Treo smartphones and other Bluetooth-enabled devices. This eliminates the use of varying cables for different devices and ensures that users can continue to use ActiveECG when they upgrade to new handhelds.

ActiveECG provides real-time display and recording of ECG data on Palm handheld devices. ActiveECG offers comprehensive cardiac monitoring capabilities which include QRS (heart beat) detection, pacemaker detection, leads-off sensing, active noise suppression and extensive self-testing. Its small size, rugged design and long battery life make it perfect for wilderness or other harsh environments. Its low price and use of standard, low cost consumables make it practical as a personal monitoring device.

"Palm's easy-to-use, flexible platform lets third-party solution providers, like Active Corporation, offer customers mobile versions of their products," said Tara Griffin, vice president of enterprise markets for Palm, Inc. "Treo smartphones with a Bluetooth connection to ActiveECG gives individuals the power to collect and monitor data cable free. Best of all, testing and monitoring capabilities are accessible outside the confines of a hospital."

By adding a Bluetooth adapter, ActiveECG can more readily be used in difficult monitoring situations. A patient can be monitored during the difficult extrications performed in wilderness medicine or by a ski patrol. An Emergency Medical Technician can monitor a patient trapped in a car or under debris from a secure distance, providing increased safety for the patient and the rescuer. Veterinarians can more easily monitor their patients who may not be willing to lie down
and cooperate, or who may be of a size that it is impractical to be connected via a cable.

Link

Google Epocrates

You can now look up Epocrates drug info via Google
If you are a Gmail account holder, you can subscribe to Epocrates® Online via "Google Co-op."
With this service, you will automatically see links to FREE Epocrates drug monographs at the top of your results list when doing Google drug searches.



I wish Google would also get it to work with Mobile Google searches. Then one might consider replacing the memory hogging Epocrates application on the PDA with just your PDA's browser!

ICD-9CM Handheld Coding Tool

Thomson and Novartis bring you the ICD-9CM Handheld Coding Tool - Version 1.2 with 2006 data for Palm and Pocket PC.
A little unusual that the setup program is for both Palm and Pocket PC. Unfortunate as you are forced to download 21 MB! Wish they could have separated the two setup programs. But it's free, so can't complain.
(Hat tip to Ectopic Brain.)

IPDA-II

Initial Psychological Disorder Analysis v3.0 is now available in Freewarepalm.com
Description:

Quickly determine an initial diagnoses of an Axis-I or Axis-II psychological disorder.
Accurately determine a clients course of action with this easy to use, flexible software for all Palm OS PDAs. IPDA-II is a versatile instrument for evaluating individuals suspected of having a psychological disorder. It enables mental health professionals to rapidly & easily determine an initial diagnoses of an Axis-I or Axis-II disorders via answering simple guided "Yes"/"No" questions leading to a result. IPDA-II saves and displays client's histories, initial diagnosis, demographics, medications & progress notes all at your finger tips.

In search of more Ram for my Treo - Palm are you listening?

Now that the CDMA version of the Treo 700p is out, the rest of us on GSM networks can only look on in envy.
Now from the news that we hear on the grapevine, Palm is to release 4 new Treo models this year. 2 have been revealed: the Treo700w, and the Treo700p (WM and PalmOS respectively). The speculation is that the next two models will be "Hollywood" (possibly a GSM WM powered model without an external antenna) and "Lowrider" whatever this may be).
I think Palm will be making a BIG mistake if they don't release a PalmOS GSM Treo700p. Forget about 3G (there is talk that PalmOS Garnet cannot support 3G). I just need the RAM!! GPRS/Edge will do!!
There are 2 billion GSM users Palm. Neglect us and you shoot yourself in the foot (again). We don't want WM5 in Treos. We want a GSM Treo700p with more memory and NVFS issues fixed. Period.

Sanford Guide 2006

The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy 2006, PDA Edition, for Palm and Pocket PC devices has been released.
Powered by USBMIS, The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy 2006, PDA Edition contains all of the content found in the print edition. This year's updates include:

* Up-to-date comprehensive treatment guidelines for bacterial, fungal, mycobacterial, parasitic and viral infections, including prophylaxis, occupational exposure and immunization
* As a reflection of the worldwide MRSA "epidemic", especially community-acquired MRSA, a new Table 6 is added to specifically address this growing problem
* Information on drug dosage, resistance, pharmacology, adverse reactions, drug-drug interactions and resource links is updated
* New and updated source references to the medical literature are included throughout

New in Palmgear

Skyscape has released updates in Palmgear:

MedSurg Notes: Nurse’s Clinical Pocket Guide 9.0.6

MedSurg Notes provides succinct, on-the-spot guidance for caring for patients with complex medical-surgical conditions. MedSurg Notes offers focused assessments, immediate interventions, and follow-up care for patients who develop complications, all presented from the nurse’s point of view. From setting up an oxygen delivery system in a hospital room to administering stat meds, nurses and nursing students should rely on MedSurg Notes to help deliver high-quality care.

Mosby's Diagnostic and Lab Test Reference, 7th Ed. 9.0.5
Adaptable, convenient, and easy-to-use, this reference delivers information health care providers need for efficient, safe, and accurate testing. This reference contains a wealth of added functionality that makes pinpointing information easier and faster than ever.

The Little Black Book of Emergency Medicine, 2nd Ed. 9.0.5
Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of this reference provides comprehensive, concise, evidence-based information on diagnosing and treating illness and injury in the emergency setting. The Little Black Book of Emergency Medicine is a convenient resource offering quick access to vital information and makes a great reference for solving pressing problems on the ward or in the clinic.

Dx/Rx: Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancies: Cancers of the Stomach and Esophagus 9.0.6
Tightly organized into a super-condensed outline bulleted format, this reference details precise, up-to-date information for diagnosis and treatment of esophageal and gastric cancers. Comprehensive and concise, the reference covers epidemiology, diagnosis, staging, treatment, and complications. Throughout the handbook, tables and figures summarize important clinical data and current professional society recommendations, while salient references direct readers to additional information. Current, quick, and concise, for instant access on ward or in the clinic!

Outbreak ID Beta Test

USBMIS announces the Beta preview of OutbreakID, an application for Palm and Pocket PC specially for physicians and public health professionals who stand on the frontlines as the key agents for the early detection of disease outbreaks. OutbreakID includes chemical and biological weapons, emerging infectious diseases, foodborne illnesses, occupational diseases, zoonoses, and arthropod-borne infections. It covers 199 infectious diseases, including nearly every disease listed in the Control of Communicable Diseases Manual.

OutbreakID gives physicians and public health professionals all the information at their fingertips about diseases that cause outbreaks.

Features:

* Explore the database of 199 diseases in 16 categories
* Search for diseases by "Disease Name" or "Disease Criteria"
* Verify findings and epidemiological factors with references listed for each disease
* Query by one or more disease criteria with the option for "AND" or "OR" searches
* Access diseases worldwide or limit the search to those endemic to the United States
* Bookmark your most often used searches, for quick access
* Keep Notes on diseases for your own reference

Join the OutbreakID FREE beta test today and be one of the first to use this groundbreaking application. Beta testing is open now and will close on June 20th.

Emergency Room Basics

There's one place where a PDA would come in handy and that's the ER where you have little time to find that reference. It could save lives if you could look up that toxicology info or durg interaction right in your Palm.
Emergency Room Basics 3.05 has been released in Palmgear.

Application Description Now available for Palm OS & PPC, Emergency Room Basics (ERB)is an iSilo-based product that provides practical information for doctors working in the Emergency Room (from medical students to senior residents/registrars). Updated regularly, ERB is designed as a carry-with-you guide with the latest practises, links, diagrams and pictures to help bail you out of any clinical situation. Note that ERB is a supplement and not a replacement to conventional texts. All registered users are entitled to a minimum of one year of full updates.

Tarascon Pharmacopoeia

The Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia has been the most popular and most trusted source of portable drug information since 1987. Now USBMIS has produced this acclaimed reference on your Palm as the ultimate PDA drug tool, which includes: * Expanded drug information from the Deluxe Edition of the print Pocket Pharmacopoeia * A fully integrated tool for multiple drug interaction checking, with interactions data from the experts at The Medical Letter * Continuous ongoing drug information auto-updates via the internet * Both Palm and Pocket PC versions, including support for most extended memory cards * A fully integrated Herbal & Alternative Therapy section * 47 invaluable reference tables and 9 dynamic medical formula calculators * Both convenient relative pricing codes ($ to $$$$$) and exact prices directly from www.drugstore.com. * Extensive pediatric drug dosing * Unique Canadian trade names and drugs

RSS Tutorial and Bloglines

Bloglines is my favorite RSS reader at the moment. It is browser based so you don't have to install a separate app. The best part for PDA users is, there is a mobile version which works well with mobile browsers like Palm's Blazer and Opera Mini (version 2.04, the current one is quite stable and works very well with the Treo 650, especially supporting the Treo's navigation Dpad).
When I mention RSS to my colleagues, I usually get blank looks. Many people still haven't heard of RSS!

I have written a couple of simple RSS tutorials which might help some on the way:
Using RSS Feeds
Medical RSS Feeds

In the second link I mention how easy it is to generate Journal RSS feeds using PubMed's SendTo RSS facility.

Here's how:
1. Run a search in PubMed limiting the search only to the Journal of interest. For instance in the case of Blood Journal, you would put "Blood[jour]" in the Search box.
2. Choose RSS Feed from the Send to pull-down menu (this is at the bottom of the Pubmed page)
3. On the RSS Feed Page you may edit the name of the feed and limit the number of items to be displayed, click Create Feed. If the number of citations retrieved is greater than your “limit” number you will have the option to link to PubMed to display the entire retrieval.
4. Click the XML icon to display the XML and copy and paste the URL into the subscribe form in your RSS reader.

For Haemonc folks, here are the RSS feeds I have created:
Blood
Blood reviews
Bone Marrow Transplant
Current Op Haematology
Haematologica
Transfusion
Thrombosis Haemost
Br J Haem
Eur J Haem
Acta Haematol
J Clin Oncol

Here's a screenshot from my Treo650 running Opera Mini and viewing one of the feeds using Mobile Bloglines:



Happy feeding!

Mosby's Diagnostic and Lab Test Reference

Skyscape and Mosby - An Elsevier Health Sciences Company announce the new release of Mosby's Diagnostic and Lab Test Reference, 7th Ed
Description
Adaptable, convenient, and easy-to-use, this reference delivers information health care providers need for efficient, safe, and accurate testing. This reference contains a wealth of added functionality that makes pinpointing information easier and faster than ever.

FirstAID for Clerkship series

Released in Palmgear by USBMIS:
FIRST AID for the Emergency Medicine Clerkship 1.1
Application Description
The First Aid For The Emergency Medicine Clerkship guides the reader in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of many of the problems seen by emergency physicians.

FIRST AID for the Medicine Clerkship 1.1
Application Description
The First Aid For The Medicine Clerkship contains detailed how-to-succeed and what-to-study guidance from medicine clerkship veterans.

FIRST AID for the Surgery Clerkship 1.1
Application Description
The First Aid for the Surgery Clerkship is designed to prepare for the surgery clerkship examination and provides clinical diagnosis and treatment of many of the problems seen by surgeons

The PDA applications, available for both Palm and Pocket PC, contains all of the same trusted information as the text versions, plus many more exciting features:

* Special Flash Card feature allows user to create high-yield study tools
* Separate tabbed sections for High-Yield Exam Tips and Ward Tips
* Create/Share Notes to customize patient information on any PDA
* Dynamic hierarchy for rapid navigation of the contents
* “Jump-To” combo box allows quick look-ups for epidemiology, etiology, signs & symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment
* Calculators allow quick computation of medical formulas
* Bookmarks enable frequently-accessed material to be found quickly
* and more!

New USBMIS releases in Palmgear

Clinical Anesthesiology 1.1

Application Description
Clinical Anesthesiology is a succinct overview of the basic concepts and clinical considerations essential to the modern practice of anesthesia. The ideal reference for any anesthesiologist or trainee in this area of specialty, Clinical Anesthesiology is now available in handheld form for your Palm or Pocket PC device

Thompson's Rheumatology 1.1
Application Description
Once you try it you'll wonder how you ever practiced medicine without it! The new and expanded Thompson's Rheumatology 2006 PDA edition is now available for your Palm or Pocket PC device. With all of the same trusted information as the 2005 edition, the new version brings rheumatologists, internists, and primary care physicians 5 new chapters which makes it the most convenient and comprehensive rheumatology reference available today.
The constantly evolving knowledge of rheumatic diseases and the expanding therapeutic armamentarium used for their treatment makes it challenging for rheumatologists to keep up to date. Thompson's Rheumatology Pocket Reference was developed to provide physicians with a standard reference of diseases and medications used to treat the rheumatic diseases.

Schwartz Principles of Surgery 1.1

Schwartz Principles of Surgery 1.1 has been released in Palmgear.
Application Description
With its extensive content and custom-designed user interface, Schwartz Principles of Surgery, PDA Edition enables you quick access to the answers you need to make the right diagnosis or initiate a treatment. Interlinked content, a notes feature, and custom bookmarks make this more than a reference application. Schwartz Principles of Surgery has developed into the ultimate PDA tool for anyone enrolled in a surgical clerkship or surgical residency.
Schwartz's textbook of surgery is one of the world's most well known references in general surgery. This reference is considered a must for anyone studying or training in the field of surgery.

Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility 1.1

Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility 1.1 has been released in Palmgear

Application Description

Obstetrics Gynecology & Infertility has been a trusted reference for 10 years and is now more complete than ever. For the first time, this valuable reference now contains information on the subspecialties of maternal-fetal medicine, reproductive endocrinology, and gyn-oncology, as well as a broad base of general medicine information which reflects the changing emphasis of Ob/Gyn as it expands to include primary care for women.

Obstetrics Gynecology & Infertility PDA Edition is a necessity for clinicians, Ob/Gyn residents, medical students, and other medical professionals. The reference contains an abundance of information and is now available from the convenience of your Palm or Pocket PC device. Take a look at these features:

* Utilize over 200 tables, flowcharts and figures
* Quickly search comprehensive index
* Conveniently jot down notes within program content
* Easily access frequently viewed information using bookmarks
* Examine several operative reports for support information
* Reference new “Spanish Primer” chapter
* Utilize full list of lab values

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Board Review for your PDA

Author, Sara J. Cuccurullo, and developer, USBMIS, team up to bring the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Board Review to your PDA device. Now available for the Palm and Pocket PC platforms, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Board Review is a necessary tool for rehabilitation specialists doing clinical work and physical medicine & rehabilitation students studying for clinical rounds and for licensure examinations.

Physician Medicine and Rehabilitation Board Review features all of the same trusted content of the text version as well as additional features useful to your PDA device:

• Thorough coverage of virtually every disorder, modality, technique, and tool for the rehabilitation specialist all with an extremely user-friendly navigation system.
• Additional coverage of stroke and musculoskeletal disorders and their physical rehabilitation and training, mobility issues, back-to-work issues, as well as vision and hearing concerns.
• Extensive Pediatric and Geriatric sections

Exclusive PDA Features

• Easy hyperlinks to move through the content quickly
• Separate navigation buttons allow you to jump from Pearl to Pearl anywhere in the application
• Searchable version of the complete index only one tap away at all times
• Dynamic hierarchy for rapid navigation of the contents
• Jump-To feature allows even faster navigation

New releases in Palmgear

Skyscape has released a few new Titles in Palmgear:
Mobile eMC: UK electronic Medicines Compendium 8.0.1
The UK electronic Medicines Compendium is the most authoritative, up-to-date and trustworthy source of information about medicines licensed for use in the UK - providing Summaries of Product Characteristics (SPCs) on over 3,000 UK prescription-only and OTC licensed medicines.
Dx/Rx: Lung Cancer 9.0.4
Tightly organized into a super-condensed outline format, this reference details precise, up-to-date information for diagnosis and treatment of Lung Cancer. Throughout the reference, tables and figures summarize important clinical data and current professional society recommendations, while salient references direct readers to additional information.
The Little Black Book of Sports Medicine, 2nd Ed. 9.0.4
Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of this reference provides comprehensive, concise, evidence-based information on diagnosing and treating sports medicine injuries and illness. The Little Black Book of Sports Medicine is a convenient resource offering quick access to vital information and makes a great reference for solving pressing problems on the ward, in the clinic, or on the playing field.

MyPDACensus v2.0

MyPDACensus v2.0 has been released in Freeware Palm. It looks like a Patient tracking software. No description available.

SuperMemo Medical Database

Spotted in Freewarepalm.com - SuperMemo Medical Database v0.3, a set of SuperMemo databases created by a Medical Student, for undergraduate medical training in Hong Kong.

This database requires Supermemo

New site for free Palm software

via MobileRead: There's a new repository of free Palm software called Freeware Palm. There's a Medical section currently with 293 titles. Worth checking out. Nice design.

Physicians’ Cancer Chemotherapy Drug Manual 2006 ( OncoMD06™ ) 9.0.4

Updated in Palmgear


Completely revised and updated for 2006, this practical reference is an up-to-date guide to all aspects of cancer chemotherapy. The reference provides a comprehensive, easy to use catalogue of over 100 drugs-both on- and off-label-commonly used in cancer treatment, including several new agents (recently or about to be FDA approved). A section on Common Chemotherapy Regimens provides a quick reference to management of specific cancers, arranged alphabetically. A comprehensively revised introductory section on Principles of Chemotherapy offers a concise, current overview of the field.

Key Features

• Special section profiling anti-emetic drugs
• Diagrams of drug structures and pathways
• Complete discussion of clinical pharmacology, indications, and dosages
• Coverage of toxicity and interactions
• Separate sections on chemotherapy regimens for specific cancers
• Overview of basic principles of cancer drug therapy
• Built-in Medical Calculators provide instant access from within topics to relevant medical calculators include:
  • Ideal Body Weight (IBW)
  • BSA

Archimedes

Archimedes is another free medical calculator by Skyscape.
It's made it's way into freewarepalm

Description: A must have for every medical professional! An innovative specialty calculator, Archimedes is unlike any other program currently available. Archimedes™ - Free Medical Calculator Archimedes is a must have for every medical professional! An innovative specialty calculator, Archimedes is unlike any other program currently available. Forget having to remember complicated formulas, just enter the values and out come the results. An indispensible, at-your-fingertips resource! Comprehensive With formulas ranging from Aa Gradient to Weights, our proprietary calculator provides you with 70 preprogrammed formulas that include specialties such as Cardiology, Pharmacology, Hematology, FEN, Pediatrics, Pulmonary and Renal. Intuitive, easy-to-access formulas Archimedes is specifically designed to offer three methods of accessing formulas -- alphabetical listing, category listing, and historical listing -- enabling you to access formulas in a way that's engaging to you. Detailed information at your fingertips From a built-in calculator assisting with value field input, to control of decimal point placement in formula results, Archimedes allows you to determine the input and output details for every formula. Also included is a help button giving you access to complete formula information. Compact Occupying less than 660 KB, Archimedes leaves plenty of room for your favorite applications. Key Features: - Runs on all Palm OS and Windows CE/Pocket PC devices - More than 70 most commonly used formulas in medical specialties - Easy access to formulas - Powerful built-in calculator for preprocessing inputs - Detailed help for each formula - Remembers values you last entered - Automatic evaluation of the formula, once all input fields are filled in - Quick access to other ART™ss applications

It's Official - The Treo 700p is here

It's all over the usual Palm sites, the top story being that the Treo 700p is finally here though there have been rumours going on about this for months now.
The Official Specs sound quite impressive.
For the medical user, the much improved Ram (128 MB - 60 MB available to the user) is welcome news indeed. I eagerly await this since I have had to shelve the memory hog, Epocrates, and also forgo Avantgo on my Treo650 simply because I don't have enough Ram.
Right now, there's only the CDMA version for North America. I hope Palm will release the GSM version for the rest of us (the majority in fact) round the world. I can't wait!

Thompson's Rheumatology PDA edition 2006

USBMIS announces the new and expanded Thompson’s Rheumatology 2006 PDA edition is now available for your Palm or Pocket PC device. With all of the same trusted information as the 2005 edition, the new version brings rheumatologists, internists, and primary care physicians 5 new chapters which makes it the most complete, convenient, and comprehensive rheumatology reference available today.

New Chapters

• Pauciarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis • Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
• Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis • Sarcoidosis • Cutaneous Vasculitis

The Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Chapters are new for 2006 as part of our commitment to creating the most comprehensive rheumatologic reference. These chapters highlight valuable information about juvenile idiopathic arthritis in its three common presentations as well as provide management strategies for such cases.
The Sarcoidosis Chapter adds a discussion of this infiltative granulomatous disease as well as a number of rheumatic manifestations. These rheumatic manifestations are highlighted for quick and clear retrieval of the information. Additional investigative and treatment strategies are also discussed.
The new Cutaneous Vasculitis Chapter details the presentation of this inflammatory disease and provides trusted differential diagnosis, investigative strategy, and management information.

Palmdoc joins Palmaddicts

Yesterday, I decided to join Sammy & Crew over at PalmAddicts and give them a hand as an Associate Writer. The PalmAddicts crew has been serving the Palm community well for quite some years now and it's high time I helped out as well especially as yes, I confess, I am a PalmAddict too! I intend to post non-medical (or medical Palm computing topics more geared towards the general public rather than doctors) topics there.
I'll keep track of my postings in PA in this page:
http://palmdoc.googlepages.com/mypapostings

This site will continue to serve as a place to post news on Palm/PDA Medical topics for doctors and health-care workers and like Sammy I invite anyone out there interested to be a Co-Editor on the Palmdoc Chronicles. Just send me an email and I'll send you the details and blogging invitation.

Dictaphone Webinar for Clinics

Dictaphone invites all doctors to a special Clinic and Physician Group focused Web Forum and get the latest information on how Dictaphone is dramatically reducing the time and the costs associated with the production of patient information through advanced Digital Dictation, Speech Recognition, and Natural Language Processing technologies.

You get to gain an exciting insider’s look at how these technologies are being deployed in a physician-friendly way that overcomes many of the barriers to adoption of traditional EMR software, while allowing physicians to still benefit from the ease and detail of narrative dictation.

When: Two dates to choose from:
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 -- 1:00-2:30 PM (ET)
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 -- 1:00-2:30 PM (ET)

Where: Right at your desk via the Web & your phone.

Click Here to Register Now FREE, with no obligation

I notice Dictaphone also have a mobile/PDA dictating solution but PPC only. They should realise that Palm PDAs like the Treo650, Lifedrive have microphones!

UpToDate for Palm coming soon?

KidneyNotes reports that UpToDate for Palm is being beta tested and may be released in 3-4 months. Well that would be welcome news as the prices of SD cards plummet and fat32 drivers for PalmOS become available in the newer PalmOS handhelds and smartphones.
From the UpToDate website:
Will UpToDate run on my Palm device?
Not yet, but we are developing a version of UpToDate that can be installed and used on Palm handhelds (will require a 1GB or 2GB memory card) and expect this version to be available sometime in 2006.

Ident-A-Drug Reference 2006

Skyscape and Therapeutic Research Center announce the release of Ident-A-Drug Reference 2006 for your mobile device.

Ident-A-Drug gives you quick accurate identification of oral tablets and capsules used in North America by the identification code imprinted on all medications, and includes NDC numbers, manufacturers, use, doses, etc.

• Identifies drug products by the codes imprinted on them as well as the color and shape of the product.
• Gives the national drug code (NDC #) as well as the drug class.
• Law enforcement officers have found this Database extremely useful as they encounter legal and illegal medications.
• This compilation of drug identification codes is the most complete drug identification database in existence anywhere.

CDW-G Provides Tools to Help University Medical Schools

CDW-G Provides Tools to Help University Medical Schools Meet Patient Care Regulations and Improve Student Service

Indiana University School of Medicine and Ohio State University Select CDW-G to Deploy Personal Digital Assistant Programs for Medical Students

CDW Government, Inc. (CDW-G), a wholly owned subsidiary of CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDWC) and leading source of Information Technology (IT) solutions to governments and educators, today announced that Indiana University School of Medicine and Ohio State University have established personal digital assistant (PDA) programs with CDW-G for students, faculty and staff. The technology enables the schools to comply with industry standards, improve efficiency and enhance their students' learning environment.

"University medical schools face a variety of challenges - from engaging their students and providing superior patient care, to complying with regulatory body mandates," said Chris Rother, group vice president, CDW-G. "The technology solutions that CDW-G provided enable some of the nation's finest healthcare teaching institutions to train the next generation of physicians in improved patient care."

read more from Biowire

New Style Tap version

Pocket PC owners can run great PalmOS medical apps like Medcalc, by using StyleTap. Version 0.9.126 has just been released which includes support for the Treo700w.
Of course the better way to run PalmOS apps is to use Palm OS PDAs or smartphones :P

Neuroplasticity Stroke Recovery System

Spotted The Northstar Stroke Recovery System in MedGadget.
The theory is that "cortical stimulation of the healthy brain tissue adjacent to the “stroke,” in combination with rehabilitation, enhances motor recovery and suggests that cortical stimulation for stroke patients may facilitate neuroplasticity"
Don't know how true this is, but I was interested to read that the system uses a PDA (PocketPC)

-- Programming system - a handheld computer attached to a programming device which allows communication with the implanted IPG device. This system allows the clinician to turn the device on/off and to set/modify stimulation parameters

David Nagel joins Epocrates

Read from 1src that Former PalmSource CEO David Nagel Joins Epocrates Board. From the Epocrates news room:

“The enthusiasm of Epocrates’ customer base is contagious. At PalmSource, I saw the ‘Epocrates phenomenon’ firsthand – clinicians purchasing mobile devices primarily to use Epocrates’ products. I am honored to be affiliated with a company that develops such valuable and reliable clinical solutions for healthcare professionals,” said Nagel.

Well David, first thing you gotta do at Epocrates is to tell them to support that SD card!! My "enthusiasm for Epocrates" will jump up many times more if the good folk at Epocrates realise the problems we Treo650 users face with the paltry memory Palm has given us...

Doctor DB

Palmaddicts mentions The Medical Database (aka Doctor DB) - a great utility for patients to help recall their medical history on the next visit to the doctor's office.
It's a great free utility by a young programmer and you can download it from freewarepalm.com

The Medical Database (aka Doctor DB) v2.0 Description: With this program, you are going to be able to keep an extensive medical database that will suit your needs: - Your doctors' names and specialities. - Your doctors' emergency phones. - All the clinics and data about them. - Your doctor appointments, with alarm to remember you. - Your medicines, what dose and an alarm to remember you. - Your surgeries. - Your allergies. All the information can be accessed from tables for easier lookup. And the best of all is that it is FREE!

Something for me to keep in my Palm and Beam to patients with Palm PDAs!

Anion Gap Calculator

Spotted Anion Gap Calculator for Palm v1.0 in Freewarepalm.com
A bit hefty for just performing a single function - 370 Kb.
I notice that Medcalc also calculates Anion Gap and much more. I would recommend the latter.

USBMIS Sale of the Week for May 1st - May 7th

Take advantage of the USBMIS Sale of the Week for May 1st - May 7th and save 15% on your purchase of McGraw-Hill's Clinical Anesthesiology for your Palm or Pocket PC device.

A succinct overview of the basic concepts and clinical considerations essential to the modern practice of anesthesia, Clinical Anesthesiology is the ideal reference for any anesthesiologist or trainee in this area of specialty.

Features include:

• Updates to all chapters reflecting the latest advances in practice
• Case discussions to promote application of the contents
• Key Terms and Topics to provide a quick guide to subject matter usually contained on written exams
• Tables and figures for easy comprehension of complex material
• Key Concepts to help keep you focused on truly important themes that constitute the core understanding of anesthesiology
• Comprehensive index for quick searching
• Bookmarks to personalize your application for the information you access most frequently

USBMIS and McGraw-Hill have gone to great lengths to produce a well-informed, consistently organized, and user-friendly application for the convenience of your handheld device. For a limited time only, purchase your copy of Clinical Anesthesiology and save 15%.

Road Warrior

Charles Moreira in the MPC forums sought feedback from those of use who are truly "Road Warriors".
Well, I reproduce my recent reliance on my Treo650 as a notebook replacement and do I qualify as one? ;)

Hi Charles. At a recent medical conference I attended, I did not take my notebook along. I was armed only with my Treo650 and thumbdrive. The thumbdrive contained my original Powerpoint presentation with which I copied the PPT file to the Conference notebook (Actually I had another copy on my Treo's SD card and with Card Export II, my Treo650 was actually a backup "thumbdrive") My Treo650 with Documents2Go Pro7, was a great help as I could view the PPT presentation on my Treo complete with editable Slide notes which helped me rehearse and present my talk. Of course with my Treo I kept in touch with my Email and favorite news/mobile websites via GPRS/Edge technology. I could even IM with my family and friends using Mundu IM. You could even be entertatined listening to MP3s, playing PDA games while waiting at the airport. I even used it in-flight (with the phone switched off, and not during landing/take off of course) Battery life was superb and managing to go down to about 45-50% battery remaining with very very heavy use thruout the day. Did I miss the notebook? No...........................

Detroit Receiving Hospital Emergency Medicine Handbook, 5th Ed.

New title from Skyscape: Detroit Receiving Hospital Emergency Medicine Handbook, 5th Ed.

Written by a team of experts from a renowned emergency department and Level 1 Trauma Center, the Detroit Receiving Hospital, this reference provides the clinical information most frequently used in emergency care.

Key Features

• Easy access to critical information
• Covers:
  • Critical care
  • Trauma
  • Cardiology
  • Toxicology
• Primary care issues, such as hypertension, gastroenteritis, and pharyngitis
• Authoritative drug-dosing and disease treatment tables
• Treatment regimens for scores of common diseases
• TIMI Risk Score, Nexus Low-Risk Criteria, and CT Grading of Solid Organ Injuries
• ACLS and PALS algorithms
• New interactive flowcharts: Now, complex algorithms and protocols are transformed from static images into dynamic step-by-step decision support tools. See how this innovative feature can quickly and easily walk you through even the most intricate decision models.

Dr. O, that's why you need a PDA....

Just back from a three day scientific meeting. Had a chance to meet up with Dr. O. from Arkansas and in his talk on myeloma, he mentioned the difficulties of dealing with complicated diagnostic criteria and how problematic it was to have to keep looking them up.
Well later on I found out that he also has a Treo650 and obviously, Dr. O, you don't use it to it's maximum potential! This is indeed something I find quite in common with other doctors who use PDAs and smartphones. They treat them like little electronic diaries.
People, it's like using only 5% of your brain's potential!!
Anyway, as Dr. O had not heard of Haemoncrules, I offered to email him a copy - so it's been sent off to you, Dr. O. Hope you like it!

UMASS Nursing Students Gain Confidence

UMASS Nursing Students Gain Confidence, Experience with Skyscape Medical References for PDAs

LOWELL, Mass. & MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – April 26, 2006 - UMASS nursing students at Boston and Lowell campuses are trading literally thousands of pages of medical reference texts for a state-of-the-art digital solution that puts the information, and more, right into the palms of their hands.
UMASS faculty and librarians observed that nursing students relied on medical reference books, many of which were bulky and heavy and not easily carried into the clinical setting.
UMASS Boston systems librarian Apurva Mehta and UMASS Lowell systems librarian John Callahan and assistant professor Patrick Scollin got together to see if there was a better way to utilize technology to make this information available at the point-of-care.
“Nursing is a hands-on discipline and learning shouldn’t be restricted to a library. So Patrick and I put our heads together with Apurva, and set out in search of a way to help the students better access the material,” said John Callahan.
“Our goal,” said Patrick Scollin, “is to allow students to access information inside and outside of the classroom – as well as in a learning environment like their clinical rotations – where they really need the information on-hand.”
While researching the options, the team at UMASS applied for and received a state grant for $18,000, and so began the PDA loan program at the campus library. Once word spread students quickly began signing up to borrow and use PDAs while on clinical rotations.
Now in the second year there are 35 PDAs for loan at both UMASS Lowell and Boston campus libraries. Five PDAs are held by professors instructing nursing clinical classes and 30 are available for loan to students at each library. There are 17 Skyscape medical references that were purchased for use on the Palm PDAs, some of those include:

Evidence Based Diagnosis
Griffith’s 5-Minute Clinical Consult
Nurse’s Pocket Guide: Diagnosis, Intervention, and Rationales.

UMASS chose Skyscape medical references for PDAs because of the patented smARTlink™ technology. With this system - offered only by Skyscape - when a topic of interest is selected, the smARTlink™ technology searches all other Skyscape applications on the PDA to cross reference the material and provide instant access to all information on that topic. This enables nursing students and professors to quickly access information on diseases, symptoms, and prescription drugs at the tap of a stylus – which is not physically possible with print text.
The benefits of using the PDAs are seen by student and registered nurses alike – especially when the students use them while in clinical at the hospital. “We’ve heard of situations where students are on rounds using their PDAs and the nurses are so curious that they rush over to borrow the students’ PDA to check out the applications,” said John. “It’s really amazing; we never dreamed that we’d see such an overwhelming response.”
And the students rave about the features constantly, added Patrick, “With easy access to reference material, students are smarter when with patients and able to provide better quality care, plus the reduction of possible errors by utilizing smARTlink, the students go on and on.”
According to John Callahan, “The PDAs loaded with Skyscape references satisfy a professional goal for the students, similar to a stethoscope or medical book. And they don’t want to give them up, so Skyscape instituted a discount program for students who want the references on their own PDAs.”
With the loan program at the library, and with teachers using the PDAs with Skyscape references to teach classes, the students’ use of the technology is being reinforced on all fronts.
“We couldn’t be happier with the program, it has really become a resource that students expect,” said Patrick Scollin. “But most importantly, is that they are becoming confident with the tools that ultimately will enable them to become successful nurse professionals. We’re looking forward to continuing the program into 2007 and beyond.”

Little Black Book of Primary Care, 5th Edition

Skyscape Introduces “Little Black Book of Primary Care, 5th Edition” for Handheld Devices

MARLBOROUGH, MASS. – April 24, 2006 – Skyscape, Inc., the leader in mobile point-of-care decision support solutions, today announced the release of “Little Black Book of Primary Care, 5th Edition” formatted specially for PDAs and smart phones.

“Little Black Book of Primary Care, 5th Edition” is designed to be a very portable manual with heavily referenced, concise, practical, clinically relevant information. It contains common clinical practices, personal "pearls", as well as and most importantly, literature-debated issues. Over 6000 very specific references for virtually every aspect of clinical primary care make this reference unique among similar medical manuals.

“Little Black Book of Primary Care, 5th Edition” is an essential resource for healthcare practitioners. Skyscape’s intuitive and easy-to-use interface, smARTlink™, provides practitioners with instant access to critical information at the point of care. This reference is a powerful decision support tool that helps reduce medical errors and enhances the quality of patient care.

The reference is written by Daniel K. Onion, MD, MPH, FACP, and joins Skyscape’s portfolio of more than 300 trusted references in over 35 medical specialties. Available for purchase and download from Skyscape at: www.skyscape.com/LBBPCPR506. For Palm OS® 3.5 or higher, and Windows Mobile™ 5/Pocket PC 2002/2003. Cost $44.95; a free trial version is available.

About Palmdoc

After reading Clinical Case Blog's excellent How Can a Doctor Use Google Page Creator? ,
I decided to give it a shot and can concur that Google Pages is very easy indeed.

So as a more elaborate "About me", I present

Palmdoc's Home Page

Waddya think? ;)

Handbook of Pharmacology and Physiology in Anesthetic Practice, 2nd Ed.

Handbook of Pharmacology and Physiology in Anesthetic Practice, 2nd Ed. is a new release in Palmgear
Delivers instant access to the most critical information and provides fast facts on the pharmacology of commonly used anesthetic agents and on the physiologic responses of the body to anesthesia.
Whether you’re a resident preparing for Board exams or an experienced clinician searching for a critical piece of information needed for a surgical procedure, this reference has what you need.

Key Features:

• Timely coverage addresses the full spectrum of anesthetic agents with detailed information on pharmacology, mechanism of action , physiologic response, indications, contraindications and more
• More than 250 tables distill vital information for at-a-glace review
• A wealth of illustrations suppose the content and provide a quick visual reference
• A separate drug index helps you locate essential data on both established and emerging anesthetic agents
• New interactive flowcharts: Now, complex algorithms and protocols are transformed from static images into dynamic step-by-step decision support tools. See how this innovative feature can quickly and easily walk you through even the most intricate decision models.

Treo rumours again

Not long more till the rumoured May 15 announcement of the Treo700p..
But I spotted Treo Today's blog on another rumour: next Treo 650 firmware update coming?
The features which excite me the most:
- FAT32 support (Allows use of the new 4GB SD cards)
- Updated Bluetooth support. (New handsfree devices)
- Pocket Tunes will replace Realplayer
- WiFi drivers for Palm’s WiFi card

I've got an unused Palm SD Wifi card - unused ever since I moved on to the Treo650 from my Tungsten T5.
I was recently at a GCP course in a beautiful tropical resort (hence the blogging silence the past 5 days).. see pic below taken with my Treo650:



The hotel had free Wifi, wonderful I thought as I had brought along my Dell Axim x50v. Although I neglected to take along the Dell charger, I had a charged spare battery. As fate would have it, the wretched PPC crashed while I was on the second battery and sucked all the juice out of it.
My Treo650 with it's GPRS Internet connection was used the most as with it I could maintain contact using my email and IM. Now if it only had Wifi too. I hope the rumours of the update are true!

Obstetrics Gynecology & Infertility now available for your PDA

The “Little Red Book” that you stuff into your lab coat every morning is now available for your Palm or Pocket PC device. Obstetrics Gynecology & Infertility, 5th Edition is a concise, easy-to-use handbook for clinicians and a survival guide for Ob/Gyn residents and medical students. It provides useful information for immediate patient care, as well as a basis of practical knowledge for a career in obstetrics and gynecology.
Obstetrics Gynecology & Infertility has been a trusted reference for 10 years and is now more complete than ever. For the first time, this valuable reference now contains information on the subspecialties of maternal-fetal medicine, reproductive endocrinology, and gyn-oncology, as well as a broad base of general medicine information which reflects the changing emphasis of Ob/Gyn as it expands to include primary care for women.
The reference contains an abundance of information and is now available from the convenience of your Palm or Pocket PC device.

Features:

* Utilize over 200 tables, flowcharts and figures
* Find what you're looking for in the comprehensive index
* Conveniently jot down notes within program content
* Jump straight to frequently viewed information using bookmarks
* Examine several operative reports for support information
* Reference the "Spanish Primer" to help resolve a language barrier
* Utilize a full list of common lab values

Prentice Hall Nurse’s Drug Guide 2006

Skyscape Introduces “Prentice Hall Nurse’s Drug Guide 2006” for Handheld Devices

MARLBOROUGH, MASS. – April 17, 2006 – Skyscape, Inc., the leader in mobile point-of-care decision support solutions, today announced the release of “Prentice Hall Nurse’s Drug Guide 2006” formatted specially for PDAs and smart phones.

“Prentice Hall Nurse’s Drug Guide 2006” is a comprehensive guide providing safe, effective, current, and accurate drug administration information in a quickly accessible format. The fully revised 2006 edition includes the latest drugs approved by the FDA with key nursing implications highlighted throughout. This is the only drug guide to include Prototype Drugs for easier learning.

The “Prentice Hall Nurse’s Drug Guide 2006” is an essential resource for healthcare
practitioners. Skyscape’s intuitive and easy-to-use interface, smARTlink(TM), provides practitioners with instant access to critical information at the point of care. This reference is a powerful decision support tool that helps in reducing errors and enhances the quality of patient care.

The reference is published by Pearson Education - Prentice Hall and joins Skyscape’s portfolio of more than 300 trusted references in over 35 medical specialties. Available for purchase and download from Skyscape at: www.skyscape.com/pndg06pr506. For Palm OS(R) 3.5 or higher, and Windows Mobile(TM) 5/Pocket PC 2002/2003. Cost $45.95; a free trial version is available.

Nephro

Spotted in Freewarepalm: Nephro v3.9 is application specially for nephrology based problems.

More medical schools requiring PDAs

Yes. PDAs are not dead - they are thriving. At least in the medical community.
More medical schools requiring PDAs (via Palmaddicts)
Some interesting stats
- 28% percent of medical schools require students to have PDAs, according to the most recent survey by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the schools‘ accrediting organization.
- any more students use them voluntarily, according to Epocrates‘ research.
- Half of all physicians owned a PDA in 2004, according to the most recent survey by the American Medical Association and Forrester Research Inc.

They should be trained to use PDAs intelligently though. Not solely rely on the Palmomental Reflex!

Toxnet PDA

The National Library of Medicine's TOXNET databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases is available on your PDA for free, and you don't have to run a separate client program. All you got to do is point your PDA's browser to Toxnet PDA.
LactMed is a more recent addition to Toxnet and is a "peer-reviewed and fully referenced database of drugs to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed". It's not yet available in the PDA version of Toxnet but I sure hope it will be, as that would be a useful free tool for healthcare workers with PDAs.

New Skyscape releases

Mosby's Nursing PDQ ( MosbyPDQ™ ) 8.0.x
Summary: This reference gives rapid access to hundreds of important facts, formulas, charts, conversions, & more - all necessary to deliver safe & efficient nursing care. It is Practical, Detailed, Quick.

Natural Standard ( NatStan™ ) 8.0.1
Summary: Natural Standard ( NatStan ) - Founded by clinicians and researchers to provide high quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies.

Treo as a wireless Holter

From PDA Transmits Data In A Heartbeat

The soon-to-be-commercialized Bio-Patch Wireless Holter Monitor is a full 12-lead, wireless monitor that measures, records and transmits physiological signals associated with a patient’s cardiovascular system. The Bio-Patch is attached to a patient's chest (where it resembles a large capital-letter “I”) and consists of six electrodes embedded in a disposable bandage-like strip. The Bio-Patch uses the EASI lead placement to capture electrical impulses of the patient's heart and it transmits this information via Bluetooth to the patients Bio-Patch PDA, which initially is a Palm Treo. The Treo receives, records and stores the electrical activity of the patient’s heart. Every two to four hours, the recorded information is sent wirelessly via Cingular’s network to Telzuit’s monitoring station in Orlando, where it then evaluated by a medical professional. The Holter procedure typically lasts between 24 and 48 hours."

A couple of updates

Spotted in Palmgear:

Davis's Drug Guide with Auto-Updates 2.1
Davis's Drug Guide, has been extensively updated and is now more versatile and portable than ever! Download Unbound's new version of this best-selling drug reference to a PDA for use on the go. Access your Drug Guide on the Web using a desktop computer or an internet-enabled device such as Treo or BlackBerry!

The Little Black Book of Gastroenterology, 2nd Ed
Thoroughly revised and updated, this latest edition provides comprehensive, concise, evidence-based information on the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal and liver disease. The Little Black Book of Gastroenterology is a convenient resource offering quick access to vital information and makes a great reference for solving pressing problems on the ward or in the clinic.

RSS feeds Update and The Next Small Thing

So how do you get by your daily fill of reading stuff from the Internet - medical or otherwise. I sure hope you are using RSS feeds, 'cos that's the most efficient way to cover blogs, news sites, medical sites, and even some journals which support it.
I still use Plucker and Sunrise (btw, there is a great Sunrise XP tutorial from MobileRead if you want to try it out) on my Treo650 - which is more than enough for me usually since I can take the feeds with me after fetching them every morning, and read then anytime, anywhere.
For realtime RSS feeds, there are PalmOS and PPC newsreaders which will allow you to fetch the feeds as long as you have an Internet connection (via GPRS/Edge or Wifi).
Well the good news is you don't have to resort to running yet another app on your PDA, eating up more precious Ram (something the Treo650 is short of). Well, thanks to tips from Jeff Kirvin in the Treocentral Forums, there are are lots replacements for apps you can run on your PDA using just your browser!
The cue I got from that is to use Bloglines, which has a Mobile version. Here's a snapshot of Bloglines running on my Dell Axim x50v on PIE, showing the BMJ RSS feed:



I'm a Bloglines convert! Goodbye Sharpreader, Medreader or whatever RSS reader you use on your PC, and hello Bloglines!
To help you on the way, I have put a small Subscribe to Bloglines button on the left hand panel of this page.

Handbook on Injectable Drugs, 13th Edition

Skyscape Introduces “Handbook on Injectable Drugs, 13th Edition” for Handheld
Devices

MARLBOROUGH, MASS. – April 10, 2006 – Skyscape, Inc., the leader in mobile point-of- care decision support solutions, today announced the release of “Handbook on injectable Drugs, 13th Edition” formatted specially for PDAs and smart phones.

“Handbook on Injectable Drugs, 13th Edition” is a dynamic new mobile tool that makes it quick and easy to check the compatibility of drugs. Once you enter a selected drug product, clear compatibility and stability results are displayed so you can quickly take clinical action based on this comprehensive and trusted guide that that has long been a must-have resource for health care professionals. Over 2,400 reference itations reveal the evidence base for each decision. No other drug reference examines drug stability and compatibility in such extensive detail.

“Handbook on Injectable Drugs, 13th Edition” is an essential resource for healthcare practitioners. Skyscape’s intuitive and easy-to-use interface, smARTlink(TM), provides practitioners with instant access to critical information at the point of care. This reference is a powerful decision support tool that helps in reducing errors and enhances the quality of patient care.

The reference is published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and joins Skyscape’s portfolio of more than 300 trusted references in over 35 medical specialties.
Available for purchase and download from Skyscape at: www.skyscape.com/HIDPR506. For Palm OS(R) 3.5 or higher, and Windows Mobile(TM) 5/Pocket PC 2002/2003. Cost $49; a free trial version is available.

MIMS for PalmOS

Last year I mentioned that MIMS Asia has been developing a version for the Pocket PC .
It seems to me that progress has been slow and based on email correspondence with them, I don't think they will ever develop a version for PalmOS.

Well, let's say if someone wanted to create MIMS for PalmOS. Would it be possible? Hypothetically yes, with a bit of hard work but the tools are there. A hypothetical version (like the hypothetical B.N.F) would look like this:

Free ICD Coding Tool

You can download ICD-9CM Handheld Coding Tool - Version 1.2 with 2006 data for free from PDR.net (via Kidney Notes)

TriageDoc

Looks like medical PDA software authors have found yet another application. TriageDoc by Medical Decisions Software has been released in Palmgear

Application Description 1. May be used for pre hospital or for in hospital triage. 2. Helps triage by sorting patients by tag color, Revised Trauma Score (RTS), Trauma Score (TS) or elapsed time (ET). 3. Does multiple levels of triage from basic tag color to RTS and ET. This helps improve continuity of care to the next level of triage. 4. Has pre hospital run sheet documentation assistance. From [Start Run] , this docutimer keeps tract of events as you document from the call time to scene findings, extraction factors, history, exam, basic treatments and disposition. Provides run summary based on documentation. 5. Has preliminary assistance with some differential diagnosis and biochemical agent identification if the [ Analysis] button appears as a result of documented findings. 6. Has for each patient a summary screen and if the Analysis button comes up on the summary screen, a tap on it will list most likely to least likely biochemical agent identification.. Not all agents are contained in this application as this shareware version grew out of a research version that was designed and tested by first responders. 7. Once the triage task is done, the information documented and the list of patients triaged in sort order is exported to the Palm Memo Pad for maximum portability-print, beam, HotSync.

Pocket Reference for ALS Providers

Skyscape Introduces “Pocket Reference for ALS Providers, 3rd Edition” for Handheld Devices

MARLBOROUGH, MASS. – April 4, 2006 – Skyscape, Inc., the leader in mobile point-of-care decision support solutions, today announced the release of “Pocket Reference for ALS Providers, 3rd Edition” formatted specially for PDAs and smart phones.
“Pocket Reference for ALS Providers, 3rd Edition” is an indispensable resource for Paramedics and EMS responders. Recently updated, this handy field reference is written specifically for Paramedics and offers the most up-to-date information essential to paramedic care.
“Pocket Reference for ALS Providers, 3rd Edition” is an essential resource for healthcare practitioners. Skyscape’s intuitive and easy-to-use interface, smARTlink™, provides users with instant access to critical information at the point of care. This reference is a powerful decision support tool that helps in reducing errors and enhances the quality of patient care.
The reference is published by Pearson Education - Prentice Hall, and joins Skyscape’s
portfolio of more than 300 trusted references in over 35 medical specialties. Available for purchase and download from Skyscape at: www.skyscape.com/ALSProPR506. For Palm OS® 3.5 or higher, and Windows Mobile™ 5/Pocket PC 2002/2003. Cost $29.95; a free trial version is available.

PDAs in the battlefield

I noticed this interesting video of how PDAs and Skyscape medical applications are being used in the battlefields of Iraq (Quicktime format):


(via Docsboard)

I salute those doctors and nurses serving at the battlefront. I can only imagine how trying it must be. I confess the closest I've got to experiencing "war" has been playing simulations like Battlefield 2. Indeed you might see Corporal Palmdoc in the streets of Karkand as a Medic furiously trying to score points resuscitating fallen comrades ;)

Spinosum and the Maffucci Syndrome

I was amused to read in Spinosum's blog about how he impressed his colleagues, looking up this obscure Eponym - Maffucci Syndrome - on his PDA.
Just a reminder how useful the freebie Eponyms (for Palm and PPCs) by Andrew Yee is, and of course how vitally useful PDAs are in medical practice today.
There used to be the time when PDAs impressed members of the opposite sex in general, but I can say, they are no longer "chick magnets"... haha...

Back it up

A patient of mine recently lamented the loss of his data on his GSPDA Xplore G88 (a PalmOS phone made in China). This phone does not have an SD slot and he has not been syncing and backing up his phone regularly.
This made me think that perhaps Palm has got it right by moving on to non-volative Ram : you don't lose your data even if the battery runs out. I still remember the bad old days when you notice the charge near critical and you are on a trip and don't have your charger with you. Well those days I relied on backup to SD with utilities like Backupman - this is still my favorite and I am a happy registered user of Backupman. Even with the NVFS, there is a chance you could install some rogue program and result in your Palm going into some endless reset loop. Got your daily backup on SD? No problem. Hard reset and then restore. You're good to go!
I have been using Palm PDAs since 1997 and I am proud to say I have not lost any of my built-in data, the most precious of which is my Contact database.
Message of the day : Back it up! (see also PalmAddicts Back Up)

The Heart Pod

Spotted in ABC7Chicago :

One PDA is helping patients like Lonnie Marshall deal with congestive heart failure. That means his heart has lost the ability to pump blood efficiently. "Couldn't make it to the mailbox and back without stopping along the way sucking for air and get in the house," said Lonnie Marshall, heart patient. After antibiotics and steroids failed, Lonnie began taking diuretic drugs to rid the body of extra fluid, and then he became the first American patient to test the "Heart Pod." It's a PDA that measures fluid. "There's a wire that goes into the heart and a very small can which can be used to extract information," said Dr. William Abraham, heart surgeon, Ohio St. University Medical Center. The wire and can are surgically implanted. Then a PDA device reads fluid levels telling patients how much medicine to take. "We can adjust the dose of the patient's water pills to alleviate the congestion before they get into trouble and before they end up in the emergency department or the hospital," said Abraham.

Well the expanding use of PDAs, medical and otherwise continues to amaze me. Add this one to the list of the Many Many Uses of PDAs!

PalmPDF updated

PalmPDF, the great free PDF reader for Palm has been updated to version 1.2
I'll be trying this version as I noticed a bug with the earlier version where if you try to reduce the Ram consumption by selecting the Move to Card Option, there is an increased instability in my Treo, in particular when running Backupman. With the entire app in Ram it's OK. Hope this version fixes things.
Anyway I use PalmPDF to read by articles (mostly Journal articles) on my Treo. Simply great!

Clinical Anesthesiology from USBMIS

USBMIS has gone to great lengths to produce a well-informed, consistently organized, and user-friendly application for your PDA. Clinical Anesthesiology is a succinct overview of the basic concepts and clinical considerations in the anesthetic management of patients, and is a must-have for any anesthesiologist or trainee in this specialty.
Check out these valuable features:

* Updates to all chapters reflecting the latest advances in practice
* Case discussions demonstrate application of the contents
* Key Terms and Topics provide a quick guide to subject matter usually contained on written exams
* Tables and figures allow easy comprehension of complex material
* Key Concepts help you focus on truly important themes that constitute the core understanding of anesthesiology
* Comprehensive index facilitates quick searching
* Bookmarks personalize your application for the information you access most frequently

Epocrates Doctors Day offer

March 30 is Doctors Day (Happy Doctors Day!) and Epocrates is having a special offer:
Subscribe to ALL of their mobile products for just $75 AND receive a FREE subscription to Epocrates® Online Premium! That's a $209.98 value for just $75. Big discount!

Medical Texting

The Ectopic Brain blogs about Health Service Needs More SMS. Just yesterday a colleague of mine emailed me for help as he is experiencing issues with his Palm T5 and his t630 phone, being unable to retrieve SMSes from the phone. This just goes to show you how dependent we have become on SMSes. The telcos are very happy too for over here and I'm sure all over the world where "texting" is done, they are making $$$$$$$$$.
What I like about SMSes is that the messages are unobtrusive. They don't disturb you in the middle of a conversation or worse still in the middle of a procedure like a phone call. They are also usually cheaper then a voice call and the best part is the data is kept on your phone so you can retrieve the information later.
What I don't like is smtms d msg cn b cryptc n diff 2 undrstnd. No fear, you can always refer to SMS Dicitonaries if you are befuddled by the SMS shorthand.
I use it everyday and I am very impressed with the Treo650's SMS program as the "threaded conversation" display is very user friendly. I am trying to persuade my colleague to go convergence too and he won't have anymore problems with getting the correct phone drivers.
A sample message I sent yesterday:
Me2DrL: Got a patient Mr X in Rm 123 for a PICC. Can you help?
DrL2Me: Sure. Can put it in this afternoon
Later in the day DrL SMSed "PICC in successfully"

I do communicate with patients via SMS too and in fact if you don't want to be disturbed by phone calls from patients, you could insist they send SMSs only (cellphones are pretty ubiquitous these days anyway). You could use software for your Treo like Ringo or CallFilter to screen calls from individuals or contact groups (e.g. Patients) and divert the calls to a voice message which tells them to send an SMS instead!
There is a cheaper way to communicate via text with your smartphone but I'll leave that for another blogpost....

USBMIS Sale of the Week Extended

This USBMIS Sale of the Week has been extended till March 26.

New Skyscape releases

You might be interested in these new Skyscape releases:

Internal Medicine On Call, 4th Ed. Special Mobile/Desktop Bundle
A concise, portable reference that focuses on the evaluation and treatment of over 60 of the most common internal medicine on-call problems.

The Breastfeeding Answer Book - Pocket Guide Edition
Complete and up to date information for those who help mothers breastfeed.

The Harriet Lane Handbook, NEW 17th Ed.
The pediatrician's reference of choice for more than 50 years. Completely revised and updated with new interactive flowcharts and nearly 600 integrated weight-based dosing calculators, Skyscape's Harriet Lane Handbook sets a new standard as the essential decision support tool for anyone who treats children.

Handbook on Injectable Drugs, 13th Ed.
Written by Lawrence A. Trissel, ASHP's Handbook on Injectable Drugs is a dynamic new mobile tool that makes it quick and easy to check on the compatibility of drugs.

Emergency Medicine Manual, 6th Ed.
The best-selling pocket reference in emergency medicine covers step-by-step treatments, coverage of bioterrorism and more.

Food Pyramid 2.6

Food Pyramid 2.6 has been updated

Application Description This simple program is based on the USDA's food guide pyramid. It will remind you that what kinds of food you should eat everyday. You can sort the records by date and large notes field for input additional information. At the end of each day you can put in the daily rating that you think you should get and motivate yourself to do even better tomorrow.

Skyscape Achieves Major Milestone

Press Release

Skyscape Inc. Achieves Major Milestone Surpassing 500,000 Medical Professionals Using Its Mobile Point-Of-Care Solutions

MARLBOROUGH, MASS. – March 20, 2006 – Skyscape Inc., the firm that pioneered in-context integrated medical references, has achieved an important new milestone by surpassing 500,000 registered medical professionals using its library of mobile medical decision support tools.

A half-million nurses, physicians and allied health professionals are using Skyscape solutions on PDAs, smart phones, Tablet PCs and desktop PCs for fast and accurate diagnosis, treatment and prescribing support at the point-of-care, or wherever decision support is required, said Sandeep Shah, Skyscape founder and CEO.

“New medical evidence and other breaking information is released so rapidly that medical professionals and students must use the latest technology to stay on top of the daily wave of new information which is so critical to them and their patients,” Shah said.

While 1 in 2 physicians already use handhelds in their daily practice, Shah says their utilization – and the number of Skyscape users – will continue, driven by the growth of evidence-based medicine and electronic medical records – as well as increased wireless accessibility.

Recognizing the benefits, medical centers, such as Children’s Hospital Boston, and educational institutions, such as Vanderbilt University, are deploying or otherwise supporting the use of handheld medical decision support software by their doctors, nurses, students and instructors.

“Individual practitioners and institutions alike are realizing the benefits that Skyscape technology can bring in terms of reduced medical errors and better care,” Shah said.

A recent Skyscape survey of more than 2,800 medical professionals credited PDA-based
decision support tools with helping them to provide better and more efficient patient care. A majority cited handheld tools as “critical” to their daily practice and reported that the decision support and reference solutions enabled them to reduce potential medical errors, provide more medical care and assist more patients.

"Today, medical professionals can be literally 'up to the minute' with information delivered anywhere they need it," Shah said. “Handheld PDAs, smart phones and tablet PCs are an ideal use of technology for providing instant mobile access to general and specialty reference titles, clinical and drug-dosing calculators, ICD-9 coding, treatment guidelines and other decision support solutions – all updateable via a desktop or wireless Internet connection.”

Today, Skyscape offers more than 300 such decision support resources – the largest library available – covering over 30 medical specialties. Skyscape’s patented smARTlink™ technology provides interlinked clinical content between its portfolio titles as well as with leading mobile medical computing solutions such as MedAptus, MercuryMD and PatientKeeper. Skyscape products are available for Palm OS® and Windows® Mobile Pocket PC handheld PDAs and smart phones and Windows® desktop, laptops and Tablet PCs.
Skyscape Inc. is headquarted in Marlborough, Mass., and is on the Net at www.skyscape.com.