More Free Guidelines for your PDA



Mobile Medica has a list of Free Guidelines from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Heart Association, American College of Physicians, American College of Chest Physicians, American Urological Association, The Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions specially formatted for your PDA.

Registration is free and you only need to provide a valid email address. The website says to use the Apprisor viewer for the documents which you can download from Mobile Medica , but in actual fact the documents are also iSilo compatible so if you are already a registered iSilo user, you don't have to install an extra viewer. The iSilo Medical Depot also lists the same free downloads from Mobile Medica.

What are you waiting for? :)

DiagnosisPro for PalmOS

No, unfortunately a PalmOS version of this program is still not out but I am told a version for this excellent program may be released in the next quarter. 'm holding my breath.
In the meantime, when you order a Windows version of DiagnosisPro, you get a free PocketPC version.

Paediatric Vade-Mecum - Palmtop Edition


Hodder Arnold has released, in Palm Doc format, a complete revision of the successful pocketbook, A Paediatric Vade-Mecum.

This book provides the junior doctor and trainee grade paediatrician with invaluable information on the diagnosis and management of illness in children, and with practical evidence-based advice for the safe and effective management of the sick child.

The best part is the book is available for free and can be downloaded here. The file size is 4.7MB so you are better off storing it in your SD or MS card. The book does not include the Formulary. Still, it's a worthy addition to the aspiring Paediatrician's library.


Thanks to tt32003 for the tip, posted in KVPUG's Doctor's Shack

Clinical Evidence for PDA

The BMJ Publishing Group, a leading medical publisher, has teamed up with Unbound Medicine to combine Clinical Evidence with Unbound Medicine's award-winning CogniQ™ platform.

Clinical Evidence is an essential tool for any health professional wanting to base their clinical decisions on the best available evidence. It sums up the current state of knowledge, ignorance, and uncertainty about the prevention and treatment of hundreds of clinical conditions in a straightforward question and answer format, identifying what works and what doesn't.
The printed edition is regularly distributed to almost one million users worldwide. With CogniQ, Clinical Evidence can now be delivered direct to the point of need, enabling physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to access evidence-based answers on the go.
Clinical Evidence for PDA is available for trial and purchase at the Clinical Evidence website and the Unbound Medicine store. An annual subscription includes the concise version of Clinical Evidence on the handheld, monthly content updates delivered via CogniQ's Auto-Updates feature, a personal Web Library, and access to Clinical Evidence full text and Unbound MEDLINE on the Web.

CareTools Adds Reference App

Seattle-based CareTools has added a drug reference application to the electronic prescribing function of its PocketChart PDA software. The vendor has integrated content and tools from mobilePDR reference software into the electronic prescribing application of its hand-held medical records system.

The mobilePDR application, from Montvale, N.J.-based Thomson Medical Economics, offers physicians self-updating medication lists and real-time drug interaction checking tools accessible on PDAs. In combining the technologies, the vendors sought to create electronic prescribing software that enables physicians to write prescriptions, check them against real-time reference data and transmit them from their PDAs.

Source: MobileHealthData

New tool for Community Acquired Pneumonia

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality today announced its first clinical decision-support tool for personal digital assistants (PDAs) that is designed to help clinicians deliver evidence-based medicine at the point of care. AHRQ's new Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator (which is available for download from the AHRQ Web site at http://pda.ahrq.gov), is an interactive application for Palm Pilots and other PDAs to help doctors quickly and easily determine whether patients with community-acquired pneumonia should be treated at home or in a hospital.

"This new Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator is an example of how technology can support and facilitate the delivery of evidence-based medicine," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "AHRQ is striving to make decision support tools such as this available to clinicians."

Community-acquired pneumonia contracted outside of a hospital or nursing home environment affects approximately 4 million Americans and costs approximately $10 billion to treat each year. Nearly all of those costs -- 92 percent -- are spent on treating patients who are hospitalized for care.

Developed by MDpda Design, Inc., the Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator is based on a clinical algorithm produced in 1997 by the AHRQ-funded multidisciplinary research team called the Pneumonia Patient Outcomes Research Team or PORT. The Pneumonia PORT developed and tested the Pneumonia Severity Index clinical algorithm to aid clinicians in treatment decisions for patients with community-acquired pneumonia.

This algorithm has been validated in a broad, randomized controlled trial and was shown to be safe, cost-effective, and to improve satisfaction by enabling patients to be treated at home rather than the hospital when appropriate. There is a sizable number of low-risk patients who could be treated safely on an outpatient basis, but these patients must be accurately identified before such treatment is recommended, according to the AHRQ- sponsored research.

AHRQ PDA applications are available for download at http://pda.ahrq.gov. The AHRQ Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator is available in Palm OS, Pocket PC and HTML formats. Additional AHRQ PDA applications are under development.

Source: USNewswire

PDA Suite Reviews

I find alot of my work depends on using Word and Excel Documents. I use Documents To Go on my Tungsten 3 as this great application came bundled with it. It serves my needs well but Documents To Go is not the only Office Suite for PalmOS. There's also QuickOffice and veterans will remember the venerable Wordsmith which was (and is still) a great Word processor for the Palm

Tanker Bob from PDABuyers' Guide has this great Palm Office Suite roundup which you might be interested to read.

ePocrates Dx

Rod Story has written a review on ePcrates Dx, the new product from ePocrates which integrates ePocrates with 5 Minute Clinical Consult.

"Now imagine the marriage of ePocrates software and 5MCC and you've captured the essence of why pocket computing has become indispensable in clinical medicine. Visualize looking up a diagnosis, quickly accessing clinical pearls, one-clicking your way to your medical therapy of choice, even calculating the weight-based dose, and you have the most useful handheld medical program to date, ePocrates Dx.

A quick tour of ePocrates Dx demonstrates just how well thought out this program is. At first glance you'll notice that ePocrates familiar format has been maintained, with it's quick search Look Up: line, ability to view meds by class, and useful MultiCheck function. Newly placed at the top are the components of the ePocrates Clinical Suite, readily accessed by hot-linked tabs. Just a quick click on the Dx tab takes you to ePocrates 5MCC program, with the same quick search Look Up: line on the bottom of the screen. Once a condition is selected, multi-layered clickable headings are easily accessible at the top of the text or from a pop up menu on the bottom of the screen. These include signs and symptoms, diagnosis (with a thorough differential), and the golden nugget medications. Another quick click on the medication of choice seamlessly links back to ePocrates Rx and the core drug data we've learned to rely on. To complete the package, ePocrates Rx Pro adds the infectious disease portion (also hot-linked) and a new integrated weight-based dosing calculator. "

Read Rod's complete review at PDAMd.com

ePocratesDx integrates with both the free version of ePocrates as well as ePocratesPro. You can purchase annual subscriptions to ePocratesDx using flexible plans based upon the Clinical Suite you choose. Kudos to ePocrates for innovation.

Its monthly cycles, duh

Spotted in the comp.sys.palmtops.pilot newsgroup:

HERE I AM: Track menstrual cycle, fertile days and pregnancy calculator with hires pictures !

Fabrizio:
> Completely rewritten, Here I am ! 3.0 now offers:
> - Track your cycle every month
[...]
> FULL 7 DAYS TRIAL !

Deborah:
> I don't mean to disparage what may well be a great piece of software,
> but you'd probably interest a great deal more women if the trial was for
> a whole month, don't you think?

Fabrizio:
>You're right ... i'm going to update to 30 days full trial ...
>Thanks for the input !

Well, programmers are programmers LOL....



The Palmgear description still says "7 days trial" Fabrizio....

An Rx for Paper Cuts

Gosh, I didn't realise apart from saving on paper & reducing prescription errors, we are actually reducing paper cuts ;)

In this report from eWeek:
A major health insurance company is providing PCS and networked handheld computers to thousands of doctors, hoping to cut down on paperwork and prescription error.
Launched last month, WellPoint Health Networks Inc.'s $40 million program includes 19,000 physicians in California, Missouri, Georgia and Wisconsin. The majority belong to WellPoint's network through Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. An additional 170,000 doctors will be able to buy the equipment at a reduced rate, WellPoint officials said.
"Our goal is basically to improve the connectivity for the physician," said Ron Ponder, executive vice president and CIO at WellPoint, of Thousand Oaks, Calif. "We want to move them up in the electronic-connectivity world, and, most importantly, we want to improve patient safety."

You can read the whole article here.

I sure wish health insurance companies in my country would consider subsidising equipment & PDAs in particular!

Unbound Mobilizes F.A. Davis Healthcare Resources

Unbound Medicine and F.A. Davis Company, a publisher of health professional texts and databases, are partnering to integrate F.A. Davis’s references with Unbound Medicine’s CogniQ platform.

According to the companies, via CogniQ, an integrated handheld, wireless and Web platform, F.A. Davis content will be delivered to the point of care, enabling physicians, nurses, and other health professionals to access the latest medical knowledge on their device of choice.

Judy Ilov Neely, Senior Vice President of F.A. Davis Company, said "Unbound’s award-winning knowledge management platform is ideal for our content because it allows health professionals to manage their professional knowledge wherever they choose – on personal digital assistants, wireless devices, or the Web.”

Product rollout began today with Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, a resource that covers more than 5,000 medications, drug classes, and herbal preparations. Via CogniQ, drug updates are delivered to the PDA automatically on synchronization.

In the coming weeks, Unbound said it will launch Taber's Cyclopedia Medical Dictionary, a resource that covers more than 55,000 medical terms and provides up-to-date definitions, etymology, and pronunciations in areas of medicine, nursing, and alternative/complementary medicine.

Source: Palm Boulevard

PDA Benefits Realized Quickly

The bottomline is : If you are a doctor and you don't use a PDA, you don't know what you are missing!!

February 25, 2004 - Gibbsboro, N.J.-based Virtua Health didn't have to wait long to get results from its recent PDA pilot study. After only a month, a control group of 20 physicians saw enough benefits to using PDAs to access clinical information that the delivery system decided to offer the technology to all of its physicians beginning in March, said Vice President and CIO Linda Reed.

"Our physicians always say when we 'do something' to them, it slows them down," she said in an interview with Mobile Health Data and Health Data Management Feb. 25 at the 2004 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference & Exhibition. "So we wanted to give them a technology they could perceive as 'for' them, not 'to' them."

For the study, Virtua Health used software from Durham, N.C.-based MercuryMD Inc. to enable PDA access to clinical data such as patient lists, lab results, orders, radiology results, medication lists and demographics. It required physicians in the study to purchase their own PDAs.

Within a month, physicians were saving about 30 minutes a day using the PDAs to access the clinical data at the point of care, Reed said. Physicians currently are synching their PDAs to gather the data. Virtua Health will enable real-time access to the data from PDAs later this year after it completes implementation of an enterprisewide wireless local area network.

Source: MobileHealthData

Wireless Rounding with your PDA

Healthvision, Irving, Texas, has introduced software that enables physicians to conduct hospital rounds using a PDA and wireless network. The company made the announcement at the 2004 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's Exhibition & Conference in Orlando, Fla.
Mobile Inpatient Rounding retrieves updated patient information and clinical resources needed by physicians to complete their rounds.
Source: MobileHealthData

Its PeePeeSee only though :(

PDAs Improve Doc Communication

An internal study by MedStar Health has revealed that PDAs can help physicians better communicate with other caregivers. The Columbia, Md.-based integrated delivery system has enabled its physicians to use PDAs for medical references since 1998. In 2000, the provider began testing physician PDA use on a more interactive level.

The delivery system's Good Samaritan Hospital was plagued with unpredictable information transferred among physicians at the end of shift changes. To bring clarity to the information and the process, the Baltimore-based facility began offering PDA-based sign out forms for caregivers to complete when they end their shifts. By the end of the study phase, most physicians concluded they preferred to complete and receive the new sign out forms, said John Hong, M.D., program director of internal medicine residency at MedStar Health. Further, the PDA-based surveys often were more complete than the previous written forms, he added.

"Our hand-held electronic sign out system clearly improved the quality of information exchange among physicians," Hong said Feb. 25 at the 2004 HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla. He led the "PDA Healthcare: The Whole World in Your Palm" educational session. "Physicians found the PDA application to be useful, though it required them to enter a lot of information, which led to a few transcribing errors."

MedStar Health has since co-developed an application to enable the automatic transfer of patient chart data from its electronic medical records system--from Malvern, Pa.-based Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services Corp.--to physicians' PDAs. This, in turn, has greatly reduced the amount of data entry physicians must perform.

"We wanted to make using PDAs as easy as possible for our physicians," Hong added.

Source: Mobile Health Data

ePocrates and MercuryMD Team Up

Mobile technology leaders ePocrates, Inc. and MercuryMD, Inc. announced today at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference and exhibition an agreement that enables the integration of MercuryMD's MData(R) Enterprise
System with ePocrates Rx(R) and ePocrates Rx Pro(TM) drug reference applications.

"By combining MData with the ePocrates drug reference and formulary applications, healthcare professionals can now launch into the ePocrates drug database directly from a patient's medication list, and access their hospital's unique drug formulary directly from their mobile device -- all while in the context of a specific patient," said Alan Ying, CEO of MercuryMD.
"This partnership will save healthcare professionals' valuable time by
eliminating the need to separately look up hospital-approved drugs and byreducing extra data entry."
Additionally, MercuryMD will promote the ePocrates Internet-based, fully integrated hospital clinical reference and formulary application, ePocrates Rx Online(TM) + AHFS(R) DI. This application -- developed in partnership with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) -- allows hospitals to integrate their formulary information with the user-friendly ePocrates Rx
Online(TM) application, and the authoritative drug reference AHFS Drug Information, resulting in a single, comprehensive database.
MercuryMD's mobile solution is deployed in over 40 U.S. hospital systems representing over 115 hospitals. The company's MData(R) Enterprise System integrates patient data from a hospital's existing information systems and securely delivers patient information -- such as census lists, demographics, laboratory results, diagnostic reports, medication lists, consults, and other transcribed reports -- directly to clinicians' handheld devices in an intuitive, easy-to-use format.
"Joining with MercuryMD furthers our focus on providing objective,
accurate, concise and relevant clinical reference information created
specifically for use at the point of care," said Andrew Burns, ePocrates vice president of health services. "With this collaboration, not only can hospitals manage their clinical workflow but also enhance the delivery of patient care.
Access to up-to-date drug information can improve patient safety by helping health care professionals avoid dangerous adverse drug events."
Over 350,000 physicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals currently subscribe to a version of ePocrates Rx(R). The ePocrates Rx Pro(TM) premium handheld drug reference application features over 3,000 conventional drug monographs, an alternative medicine database and interactions guide; the
built-in MultiCheck(R) function that allows the user to simultaneously check up to 30 drugs for interactions across both ethical and alternative medications; the ePocrates ID(R) infectious disease guide; clinical tables and guidelines; and the MedMath(TM) calculator with over 30 of the most commonly used medical equations.


Source: Silicon Valley Biz Ink

Lipid Calc

Sylvain Aubry has released Lipid Calc 2003 v1.0, a freeware medical application.

Description:
Calculates lipids and metabolic syndrome.
Menu has screening, medication, waist measurement using Framingham and Canadian 2003 guidelines. SI units only.

Mobile HeathCare Solutions from palmOne

PalmInfoCenter has this story about palmOne teaming with Sprint "to develop mobile enterprise solutions targeted at healthcare organizations. The companies will leverage the Sprint Vision Network, and the Treo 600 to bring third-party applications to market solutions to mobilize healthcare processes, allowing healthcare providers to improve patient care, increase efficiencies and manage costs. "

While "Sprint can also provide solutions for the healthcare market including digital imaging and telemedicine capabilities", I'm curious as to how much one can do on that tiny 160x160 Treo600 screen!

Anoxic Brain Injury

Another freebie from Timothy Allen, Anoxic Brain Injury Prognosis v1.0 :
Designed for neurologists and medical students on their neurology rotation, this program calculates anoxic brain injury prognosis based on three algorithms.

WiFi Memory Stick

Not excatly a medic post, but this piece of news should be exciting for those holding a Sony PDA. The WiFi memory stick has made a comeback from vapourware status and has been recently released in Japan!!

Great Stuff. Check it out at Brighthand.com

Echocardiogram

Good day all! After a refreshing 3 months off medical school, I am back here in Melbourne. Alrite, here's the latest update to the medic sofware scene...

Echocardiography 1.1
This book gives you the echocardiographic values at the point of care. Besides, it offers tips on how to get the best views and where to make the adequate measurements. It is illustrated with sketches and real life pictures to facilitate the understanding of the procedure. New figures and table layouts with colors were designed for this update. The chapter on Systolic Heart Failure was enhanced with a section on TAPSE.

Conference

I'll be off to a conference in Hainan Island/China the next five days so there'll be a little posting hiatus. I'll be armed with my trusty T3 and Power2Go of course - I use this to take notes during presentations/lectures.
Hopefully there'll be Internet access but if not, I might post offline on Avantblog and upload the postings later.

MercuryMD Adds Clinical Apps


MercuryMD has released new mobile clinical applications. The Mobile Patient Management Suite is built to work with the vendor's MData mobile software to give physicians better access to patient data via PDAs.

The software is made for PDAs running the Windows Mobile or Palm OS operating systems. The Mobile Patient Management Suite includes:

-QuickCharge, an application designed to enable physicians to capture procedure and diagnosis codes on PDAs during a patient encounter. The software then transmits the codes to an organization's other information systems via a link with a secure Web portal.
-Mobile Dictation, an application enabling physicians to dictate patient notes on their PDAs.
-ActivOrders, an application designed to enable physicians to review active orders, confirm pending orders, reorder labs and electronically sign off on transcribed reports from their PDAs.
-SmartCare, an application for better identification of an organization's high-risk patients.
-MData Desktop, a Web-based extension of MData will help group practice physicians to access their hospitalized patients' data via Tablet PCs or desktop PCs.

Source: Mobile Health Data :

C-Spine v1.0



Timothy Allen, the author of Pneumocalc has also released C-Spine v1.0.
C-Spine helps you apply the Canadian C-Spine Rules to determine if a patient needs an x-ray for C-Spine Clearance.
Lke Pneumocalc, C-Spine 1.0 is also freeware, downloadable from Freewarepalm.com, that great source of PalmOS freebies.

Pocket Medicine Offer

Ectopic Brain has this tip about getting free software from Pocket Medicine with a coupon code if you act before 5/15/2004.
Great tip Kent. Pity the fine print says valid only in the USA :(

Pneumocalc


Pneumo Calc v1.1 by Timothy Allen has been updated - it's now PalmOS 5 compatible.

Description:
Pneumo Calc calculates community-aquired pneumonia mortality risk based on the Pneumonia Patient Outcomes Research Team Severity Index (NEJM 1997;336:243-50) and it's free.

The case for PDA dictation

Palmloyal.com has this article by Fred Clark, President of Audacity which makes a nifty high quality Dictation software. Audacity DVR runs on high end PDAs like the Tungsten and is superior to the Tungsten's builtin Voice recorder software as it can record in higher bit-rate and also allow you to resume and edit recorded files.

Fred says:
"Over 50% of doctors already use a PDA and the number is growing. In two years, the number is projected to be over 70%. Nearly 100% of doctors graduating from medical schools are users. Why wouldn’t these users want to dictate on their existing PDA rather than carry a second piece of hardware?"

Well Fred, I think the clincher is how fast the doctor can type. I have tried the dictation route and at the end of the day I still prefer to type out my letters myself as I am a pretty fast typist. Dictation is fine if you have got an efficient secretary (unfortunately my Secretary is my humble Tungsten T3 which still cannot do Voice recognition) who understands your mumbled recordings. I have also tested out voice recognition software to convert the digital recording to text - works pretty well but it's still a kludgy solution - you have to transfer the file over to your PC, run the conversion, correct the errors, reformat the document etc.
I prefer to carry the second piece of hardware, Fred. It's called a Palm Portable Keyboard and when folded up it's incredibly small and highly portable. But I see Fred's point. And for the 2 fingered typist, I think Audacity has a killer app.

Netter's Anatomy for PalmOS

Medical Wizards has finally released Netter's Anatomy flashcards for PalmOS. Previously the PPC version was available for download whereas the PalmOS version was "coming". Now you can download the PalmOS version as well. Kudos to Medical Wizards and thanks once again to BD for pointing it out.

Mobile Management

IQMax Inc. has released technology designed to help provider organizations mobilize their existing clinical applications. The IQEnterprise Mobile Platform is being offered to help larger organizations bring the deployment and management of mobile applications and technology in-house.

The vendor's IQEnterprise server enables them to administer the new mobile software, which features the same functions as the ASP model. The vendor will continue marketing its original application service provider model of the mobile software.

Charlotte, N.C.-based IQMax also offers clinical applications designed to operate on its mobile platform. Its IQSpeak dictation and IQCharge charge capture software can be used on PDAs running the Palm OS or Windows Mobile operating systems.


Source:Mobile Health Data

Practice Springs for Mobile Software

February 12, 2004 - HealthCare Partners, a Los Angeles-based group practice, is implementing mobile software from PatientKeeper Inc., Boston. The practice will use the software to give its nearly 1,000 physicians PDA-based access to clinical information systems at the various hospitals it serves.

HealthCare Partners serves 11 hospitals and 12 nursing home facilities in Southern California. The group practice chose the mobile software to help standardize how its physicians access data from all facilities.

Before using the software, physicians had to remember multiple passwords to access data on their patients from myriad information systems at the facilities. The mobile software is designed to give physicians access to clinical results, encounter capture, patient schedules and demographics from each information system via their PDA.

While inside one of the facilities, they can use PDAs running the Palm OS or Windows Mobile operating systems to access the data in real-time via that organization's wireless network. Physicians also can synch the information onto their PDA for off-site review.

Source: MobileHealthData

MedicTouch Launches MRN

San Jose, Calif. February 10, 2004 ? At the PalmSource? Developer Conference, MedicTouch today announced the release of the MRN (Medical Remote Network) for managing medical evacuations and managing the response teams at a disaster site.

The MedicTouch MRN system for Palm OS? was designed based on the specific lessons learned from the 9/11-terror attack. MedicTouch Founder and Medical Director, Dr Eran Schenker, attended the "Lessons Learned" session of the Pentagon disaster of 9/11, where the number one lesson was "Improve Communications" it's a matter of life and death. MedicTouch is taking some of the risk out of disaster events and providing a solid platform and application for managing the teams on the ground. We are providing a platform that assists the first responders in doing a better and more thorough job.

The Medical Remote Network (MRN) is a personal digital assistant based patient electronic medical record, and acts as a paperless, wireless, on-line system for managing medical evacuations, and transmission of medical data and patient status.

Skyscape Comes to the Rescue of Emergency Medical Technicians

Skyscape(R) Inc, a leading provider of enterprise-wide mobile medical and nursing solutions, today announced the availability of six new PDA references for emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and other first responders from Pearson Prentice Hall and Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. These titles are designed to provide information for emergency medical personnel in a wide variety of situations, including communicable disease treatment guidelines and terrorism response. Group licensing is available for HAZMAT/DMAT teams and homeland security personnel.

"EMTs are often the first trained medical personnel that people encounter in an emergency setting. They deal with a wide spectrum of cases typically under adverse conditions. It is essential they have access to the most up-to-date, portable diagnosis and treatment information at their fingertips, so they can determine and initiate the proper treatment," said RJ Mathew, vice president of marketing and business development, for Skyscape.

"While working in the critical care transport environment, I run across different situations all the time. I don't have the resources available to me in the helicopter," said William Cyr, RN/EMT-P with Boston MedFlight. "With Skyscape powered references for my PDA, I can quickly review relevant information and provide immediate treatment."

The new Skyscape-powered references, which are available today, are:

-- Communicable Diseases and Infection Control for EMS--The first text on communicable diseases and infection control designed specifically for the pre-hospital care provider, this handheld resource provides concise information on the full spectrum of bloodborne and airborne illnesses that may be encountered on the job--and details the personal protective measures that can be taken to avoid infection.

-- Pocket Reference for EMTs and Paramedics, 2nd Edition--This handy handheld reference provides easy access to the vital emergency information needed by pre-hospital personnel.

-- Pocket Emergency Medicine for PDA--Gives house staff and medical students instant access to the essential information they need for patient care in the emergency department via their PDA. Users can quickly search an alphabetical list of 57 chief complaints or a listing of head-to-toe traumatic injuries, pediatric emergencies, or environmental exposures and get succinct, bulleted information on history, typical findings, critical studies, and ED interventions.

-- Pocket Reference for the EMT-B and First Responder, 2nd Edition--A must-have for every EMT-B and First Responder. The handheld software is written specifically for EMT-Bs and First Responders and complements all Brady First Responder and EMT-Basic references and includes skills sequences taken from Brady's best-seller, Emergency Care Student Workbook 9/E.

-- Terrorism Response: Field Guide for Fire & EMS Organizations-- This handheld reference provides the basic information necessary for every emergency responder when combating terrorism. It includes information on chemical, biological, and radiological terrorism, explosives, cyber-terrorism as well as response procedures and decontamination. This reference pulls together the most useful government guidelines, recommendations, and protection requirements all in one place.

-- Weapons of Mass Destruction: Emergency Care--The only handheld text on this subject written by EMS providers for EMS providers, this is a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of a rapidly emerging field.

References are available at Skyscape.com. Homeland security personnel and state HAZMAT and DMAT teams should contact Skyscape at homeland@skyscape.com for purchasing options.

"I find Skyscape products extremely useful in my role as a DMAT Unit Commander," states Churton Budd, RN, EMT-P, Unit Commander of The Toledo Area Disaster Medical Assistance Team.

Bringing the Power of smARTlink to First Responders

Skyscape's patented smARTlink(TM) technology enhances digital content and brings critical information to EMTs and other first responders in a context they can use--reducing the time needed to spend consulting information and adding value by enabling complex queries and access to the latest disease, drug and drug interaction information. The smARTlink functionality allows medical professionals to easily cross-index with other clinical and drug prescription products from Skyscape, especially concerning interactions between drugs for multiple conditions.

All Skyscape-powered references dynamically cross-index via the smARTlink functionality on the handheld. For example, if an EMT was en route to treat a trauma victim, she could quickly review treatment guidelines for neck injuries in Pocket Emergency Medicine. After reviewing the guidelines, the EMT can then, with a single click, check DrDrugs to determine the best drugs to treat specific traumas, based on the patient's indication of what other drugs they are taking.

Can Palm Pilots influence the decisions of emergency doctors?

This interesting article by Scott Foster tells of Dr. Ken Farion's ( an emergency physician at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario) attempts at doing so.
This is a blind study where he is using a Palm to record the symptoms of abdominal patients. He plugs in 13 variables, including the point of pain and patient temperature, after which the handheld device uses a clinical algorithm to make three prioritized options: the child needs a surgical consult for a probable appendicitis, the child needs further observation for a related problem, or the child has a benign problem that requires no further investigation.
The intent is to see whether these options -- all of which receive a score out of 100 and are presented to users in a bar graph format -- have the power to influence a doctor’s decisions and ultimately affect the patient’s healthcare experience for the better, Farion said.
After the algorithm receives further tweaking and validation, conductors of the study plan to "unmask" the Palm's findings this summer so those doctors who work with the group of 525 patient participants can see the handheld in action.

Do you use your PDA to help you with diagnostic decisions?

HealthTrax

HealthTrax for PalmOS is a free health care and prevention guide that runs on your handheld device, giving you easy and timely access to care and prevention information. Using a straight-forward topic list, the information presented by HealthTrax is just a stylus-tap away!
Note: This is a KnowledgeWorx Flexpak, and REQUIRES HandiWorx

Source: Palm Boulevard

RFID and PalmOS

If Digital Angel Corporation and Herd-Pro Software can come up with this ingenious solution for livestock tracking and management, I wonder if similar technology can be used in healthcare? All your healthcare info in an RFID chip easily scanneable by a PDA? Much better than the usual MedicAlert bracelet, not?

Rcopia in the news

Mobile Health Data reports that New Bern, N.C.-based Atlantic Integrated Health, a regional network of 4,000 physicians, will offer its members electronic prescribing software at a discounted price.
The software runs on Web-connected or standalone PDAs and personal computers, with the majority of DrFirst's clients currently using PCs. The software offers medication history and formulary information--loaded onto PDAs or available via the Web--for patients covered under three major pharmacy benefit management firms under an alliance with St. Paul, Minn.-based RxHub LLC.
Rcopia supports the printing or faxing of prescriptions, or electronic transmission to pharmacies.

Eponyms update


Andrew Yee MD, has updated Eponyms to version 1.8

Eponyms is a great PalmOS freeware which lists over 1,480 medical eponyms, common and obscure, with descriptions.

Update Description:
v1.80 (2/2/04):
- Added over 20 eponyms since 1.70
- Increased support for navigation bar in Tungsten T3

Nursing knowledge is only a tap away

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Skyscape, Inc. announced the publication of an advanced array of pocket digital assistant (PDA) resources for use in nursing practice and education. In partnership with Skyscape, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise-wide mobile medical and nursing reference solutions, LWW will bring powered by Skyscape PDA references to both students and practicing nurses to access the facts they need instantly. These references cover the most critical topics--from National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX(R)) preparation to comprehensive drug administration and procedural guidance.

Some of the titles announced:
Nursing2004 Drug Handbook for PDA
Nursing2004 Herbal Medicine Handbook for PDA
Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice: Procedures for PDA
English & Spanish Medical Words & Phrases, Third Edition, for PDA
Handbook of Diagnostic Tests, Third Edition, PDA
Lippincott`s 2004 Nursing Drug Guide for PDA
Nursing I.V. Drug Handbook, Eighth Edition, for PDA
and more...

Source: Collegiate Presswire

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine is a collection of case studies documenting abnormality across all branches of medicine and surgery. This is a Tomeraider document converted from the original Gutenberg text. Idon't use Tomeraider (already have too many e-text readers loaded on my Palm!) so I guess I'll have to do the conversion myself to my favorite format- currently iSilo.

It's a pity Project Gutenberg doesn't allow a category search of it's collection of e-texts - I am sure there are some classics. A search for "Medicine" in the title shows up:

4 Record(s) Matching Your Query Found.

1. Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine
by Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Released: Dec 1996
2. Evolution Of Modern Medicine, The
by Osler, William
Released: Dec 1998
3. Bad Medicine
C - (COPYRIGHTED WORK)
by Sheckley, Robert
Released: Oct 2005
4. Harvard Classics Volume 38, The -- Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology)
by Various
Released: May 2004

Harrison's by Skyscape

Skyscape.com Harrison's has been released in the familiar Skyscape format.



Description:
Eminently readable, completely current, and dramatically revised, the new fifteenth edition of Harrison's Manual of Medicine raises the bar for internal medicine references. Harrison's continues to provide the most authoritative record of internal medicine as practiced by the leading experts in the field. And it gives you the one comprehensive database that covers the full spectrum of issues you need to know NOW.

Includes:

Therapeutics
Signs & Symptoms
Differential Diagnosis
Pathophysiology
Clinical Manifestations
Lab Findings
Concise Practice Guidelines
Handy charts, tables, and algorithms
Evidence-based summaries for significant conditions
such as heart failure

Hundreds of tables and images make the content jump It's perfect for students and clinicians on the wards, in clinics, emergency rooms, or teaching situations. When less is more, and time is short, turn to the Harrison's Manual of Medicine.

Corpus Christi Hospital Selects PatientKeeper

CHRISTUS Health, one of the ten largest Catholic-sponsored health systems in the country, has selected PatientKeeper as its mobile computing platform at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi in Texas.

PatientKeeper provides mobile software that gives physicians and healthcare professionals wireless access to the hospital's MEDITECH patient information system through a portfolio of clinical results and charge capture applications on a PDA.

Source: Palm Boulevard

Avian flu info

Skyscape Inc. is giving clinicians free access to information that helps identify and treat Avian Influenza A, or "bird flu." The information is available for hand-held computers via the company's online CDC Spotlights "channel." Hudson, Mass.-based Skyscape is offering physicians and other caregivers the data as part of its free ARTbeat platform.

Because Avian influenza has spread to humans, clinical information can help medical professionals allay people's fears and gain a level of expertise. Additionally, CDC Spotlights enables interim infection control and exposure management guidance in the health care and community setting for patients with possible flu infections, company executives say.

CDC Spotlights incorporates content from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site to provide clinicians with the latest information on bird flu and other potentially rapidly-spreading diseases, such as SARS, West Nile virus and Lyme disease, along with potential bio-terrorism agents, such as anthrax and smallpox.

For more information on the Avian influenza data, visit www.skyscape.com/artbeat.



Source: Mobile healthdata

mPOD

The first Pulse Oxymeter-PDA combo I came across was the Dolphin product for PPCs.
Now MedicTouch - Mobile Pulse Oximeter Device (mPOD)- claims to have come up with the world's first Palm OS SpO2 medical device. You can download the demo from Freewarepalm.com.
I tried looking up more details from Mdeictouch's website but there aren't any details I can glean about the Palm interface (if any) and I am not sure if this is indeed a device which runs on PalmOS.

PEPID Upgrade 5


Pepid is another popular portable medical reference for your Palm PDA.
Pepid is now into version 5. Existing users can update their packages for free.



PEPID 5 features:
-Airway Management and Cardiovascular Sections
-New, comprehensive, Neonatal/Pediatrics Resuscitation Section
-Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health
-Drug Pricing now included in Drug Information
-42 newly approved drugs and discovered interactions
-Streamlined download and installation conduit, version 5.0
-Drop-down menus added to all revised topics to improve navigation

ePocrates Open House

Ahhh, an Open House. That term where I live applies to one opening up your house to family, friends and even strangers during major festivities. Well, ePocrates, is having an ePocrates Rx Online™ Open House :
"For the entire month of February, you can access our internet based product which includes patient education information, pill pictures, medical equations, and clinical guidelines for free!"
What are you waiting for!

I like online Drug reference systems, handy at my desk where I have broadband. I am fortunate to be able to register with Atmedica where I get MIMs online for free. I sure hope Atmedica releases MIMs for PDAs (I know there is an Australian-NZ version but I am waiting for one applicable to my locale)

Diabetes 2.02

Wunderbar! An English version is now available .....

Talking Phrase Translator

How many languages do you speak? Where I live, there are three major ethnic groups and numerous dialects spoken. As a doctor, it is to your advantage if you can speak 2 or 3 languages in order to communicate more effectively with your patients.
At times I wished my Palm could help in the translation, but there were no "talking" Palm translation applications (there is a Talking Chinese Dictionary though) until Franklin Electronic Publishers and Mobile Digial Media teamed to come up with their Talking Phrase Translator which speaks 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, German and Italian). PalmInfoCenter has the breaking story.
It costs a very reasonable US$39.95 and runs off an MMC card. It's available now from goMDM.com

Netter's for your PDA


For the students of anatomy (boy, did I hate that subject in Med school) - you now have Netter's Anatomy in the form of Flash Cards for quick reference and revision thanks to Medical Wizards.
"Netter’s Anatomy Flash Cards for PDA is the first product of its kind and contains over 350 high resolution anatomy images, covering all body areas. This is a wonderful tool for both the experienced healthcare provider and student alike."
The software is available for both Palm and PPC but requires something like 25MB storage - which effectively means you have to have a device with an external memory card.

Thanks to bd who pointed it out (in the Feedback section at the left)

PubMed On Tap

PubMed On Tap has been updated to version 1.3
PubMed on Tap is an application for PDAs that facilitates Internet access to NLM's MEDLINE database using PubMed ultilies.
New in version 1.3:
- You can save citations to the Memo Pad.
- You can use the drop down menu at the top of the screen to move among the tabs.

Measure pulse rate with your Palm

BeatIt! v0.5 is a unique program which lets you measure pulse or heart rate in beats per minute simply by tapping the Beat It button 2, 4 or 8 times (the last one giving the most accurate reading).
I can imagine it being handy if you want a rough estimate of the pulse rate within 8 beats rather than having to time the pulse for one whole minute (or worse still guesstimating the pulse rate!). It would be handy too if you happen to be wearing a watch without a second hand ;)
Works as advertised and its freeware.

Diabetes 2.0

Diabetes v2.00 ist aktualisiert worden und leider ist sie noch nur auf Deutsch. Ich wundere mich, wann der Autor eine englische Sprachenversion produziert? Sie sieht wie ein großes Programm aus, das mit Diagrammen und sogar einem PC Rohr komplett ist.

RSI Calc for OS5

RSI Calc for OS5 has been released in Handango.

Description:
Easily calculate medication dosages for Rapid Sequence Induction on your Palm OS5 handheld. Simply enter the patient''s weight and the dosages and volumes are calculated for you. No more guessing or calculating each medication individually, with this application you can calculate up to 7 different medications all at once. Registered users have the ability to customize the medications list to suit their local protocols.

Sounds like something very useful for the critical care provider.

Handbook of Cancer Chemotherapy


Handbook of Cancer Chemotherapy is a new release from Skyscape
"The Handbook of Cancer Chemotherapy, Sixth Edition, for PDA is a practical, on-the-spot guide to the use of chemotherapy for specific cancers. Organized by site and tumor type for quick consultation at the bedside, this handheld reference provides instant access to current, reliable recommendations for selection and administration of drugs.
The indispensable Archimedes™ medical calculator is bundled with The Handbook of Cancer Chemotherapy for easy transition between clinical information and calculations."

Patients contacting you

How do you deal with this issue? Do you have a 24 hour secretary? I don't. Where I work, the Office assistant or telephone operator takes the message but its not very reliable. I can't give out my personal mobile number otherwise I'd get no rest either. DictoMail sounds like a great idea. A 24 hour service whereby the caller leaves a voice message which gets converted to text which you can receive on your cellphone, pda or via email. Very unobtrusive and handy I must say. I would subscribe to this service in an instant if it were available 24 hours and has multi-lingual support.

Not forgetting the Vets

Skyscape's 5-Minute Veterinary Consult—Equine has just been released.


This app "provides concise, practical, up-to-date information on almost all diseases and clinical problems in equine medicine. Emphasis is placed on definition, pathophysiology, diagnosis/treatment of problems, and diseases likely to be encountered by equine practitioners. This PDA reference covers three major areas: Problems & Physical Findings, Diagnostic & Laboratory Findings, and Diseases & Clinical Syndromes. Features include: coverage of more than 500 diseases and conditions; organization by body system; information on clinical pathology and laboratory medicine for each disease; and complex diseases covered in a quick-reference format."

I didn't realise Equine medicine was so complex. Then again, my knowledge of how to treat horses has been influenced by Gary "The Far Side" Larson's infamous cartoon of a Vet's manual on Equine therapeutics - every malady was accompanied by the solution "Shoot the horse" :D



Gong Xi Fa Cai to all those celebrating............

Diabetes Converter



Diabetes converter is a free program to help converting values of diabetes measurements :

mg/dL <-> mmol/L
Whole Blood <-> Plasma
HbA1c --> mg/dL, mmol/L

MedMath

Philip Cheng has updated MedMath v2.0

Description:
MedMath is a medical calculator for the Palm, written by a physician for rapid calculation of common formulas in adult internal medicine.
Features more than 30 formulas sorted by category, with selectable units and onscreen numeric keypad.

Runs on all Palm platforms without external libraries.

Update Description:
v2.0 1/4/2004:

Added dosing calculator, PELD (Pediatric Endstage Liver Disease) score, Parkland Formula, Pediatric Maintenance Fluids.
More robust display overflow detection; asterisks shown if numeric overflow.
Answers cleared if invalid inputs and calculate button is pressed. Units independently configurable for height and weight.
Undo/cut/copy/paste supported on calculation screen.
Internal changes to increase efficiency while minimizing footprint.
Minor interface changes for compliance with PalmSource UI guidelines.
High resolution color icon added.
Text added describing age range for Nunn and Gregg peak flow prediction formula (don't use it for children!)
Recompiled using SDK 5.0r3 and pilrc 3.1.
Updated copyright notice.




So which do you prefer? Medcalc or Medmath? I know some who like the latter because of the onscreen numeric entry. I personally prefer Medcalc as it covers more things which are relevant to my practice.

Another TCM software for the Palm



We're seeing not only mainstream medical software but also TCM software coming up for PalmOS! Pocket Homeopath 1.81 has recently been released.

Description:
"It guides you through the aspecs of Homeopathy. All you need to do is simply select your symptoms from six major categories and the application will give you a list of homeopathic remedies that apply. There are other ways to search the program; therapeutic or illness index, first aid and children's illnesses. Intuitive navigation and common language guide you through the many aspects of homeopathy. "

Whether you believe it or not, it might be useful to know what some of your patients might be consuming. It doesn't look like there is an adverse effects section.

New for nurses and educators

RNotes™ (Nurse's Clinical Pocket Guide) is a new release from Skyscape
"Educators, students, and nurses love this quick and indispensable reference tool. Focusing on clinical "need-to-know" information -- how to calculate common medication formulas, coagulation values, the normal ranges of vital signs -- rather than simply the "nice-to-know", RNotes™ combines commonly used, but rarely memorized, clinical information with patient assessment tools and worksheets. And it does it all in right on your PDA. Students can refer to RNotes time and again for the delivery of safe and efficient nursing care. "

A program that Kicks Butt!

FreewarePalm: ButtKicks v1.1 is a novel idea for using your Palm PDA.

Description:
Quit Smoking! ButtKicks helps you track your habit, you naturally smoke less until your ready to quit

I guess that's putting your Palm to good use!

PDAbs Fitness and Workout Tracker 4.5

Hmm yet another updated fitness program. Something is telling me that I must get in shape Somehow tapping on a PDA does not count as exercise ;)





PDAbs Fitness and
Workout Tracker 4.5 now has a Desktop Component that extends the data collection and viewing capabilities to your desktop. Wirth checking out.

In the meantime, have to keep true to my New Year's resolution to exercise more :D

PatientKeeper scores again

PatientKeeper features in the news again.
Western Maryland Health System Selects Park City Solutions emPOWERnet(TM) as Real-time Enterprise (RTE) Web Platform Leveraging Integration with Existing MEDITECH Systems - this system allows "real-time enterprise (RTE) portal solutions for 24/7 access to patient data and medical resources from any secured internet connection."

"The emPOWERnet:Mobile(TM) solution, powered by PatientKeeper(r) of Boston, Massachusetts, will also enable physicians to easily access patient demographic and clinical result information, view patient lists, and perform pre-rounding all through one handheld Palm OS or Pocket PC wireless device (PDA). "

PalmOS application helps PDA users lose weight and get in shape

PRESS RELEASE (eMediaWire) NormSoft Announces Athletix Health and Fitness Software:

Millis, MA (PRWEB) January 12, 2004 -- NormSoft, Inc. today announced the debut of Athletix, a powerful health and fitness log for PalmOS devices. PDA users can download a free fully-functional trial version from www.normsoft.com

The key feature of Athletix is its ability to create and manage entries in its flexible exercise log. Each log entry can contain dozens of pieces of information, about exercise (distance, time, speed/pace, subjective quality, weather, race placing, etc.) and health (weight, resting heart rate, blood pressure, etc.). Users can view their log entries in an easy-to-read columnar form that is completely customizable. They can change which information is displayed to them so they can hide the details they don't wish to track.

Calorie Factor


FreewarePalm: Calorie Factor (TM) is billed as a "dietary calculator used to calculate a score of points.
Features: Calculates a factor based on calories, fiber, and fat content in foods".

Hmm I wonder what score this is? There was this "legendary" WWCalc an app Weight Watchers tried to kill and I wonder if this is something similar?

Testing blogging using Vagablog by http://www.bitsplitter.net. Seems like a great way to update your blog wirelessly without requiring a PC.

Contraction Timer


Contraction Timer has been updated to version v2.12.3. This is a freeware application which allows you to "Use the big buttons to keep a log of contractions, while Contraction Timer automatically calculates the most important information for your midwife or doctor: the frequency of the contractions and their duration. No stylus required! It's better than a stopwatch."

Update Description:
v2.12.3 (11/9/03):
- Implemented CSV export.
- Added GPL notices, released as Free Software.

Shots 2004 update




Shots 2004, the excellent freeware immunization recommendation PalmOS software by Kent "Ectopic Brain" Willyard has been updated with the new January-June, 2004 child and 2004 adult immunization recommendations, and now includes Smallpox information. Apparently, Pocket PC and Online versions will be available. Hmm I wonder where Kent keeps his brain.

Cancer Staging and Treatment v2.7




Johnson Chong has updated his excellent and free Cancer Staging and Treatment v2.7 which is an iSilo compilation of useful information/PDQs obtained from Cancernet.
The compilation now supports iSilo 3 - you need the full registered version in order to use this document.
Highly recommended for all oncologists and health care personnel in the oncology field.

Specialist Registrar in Cardiology Now Carries a Brain in His Back Pocket (He's Irish ;) )

Skyscape's Your Voice features a user's experience with his Palm - "Since discovering Skyscape products my palm is now referred to as the brain in my back pocket". OK this is a happy experience but folks, I would advise you to keep your brain out of your butt!! I have a surgeon colleague who keeps ruining his Sony Clies by keeping them in his back pocket. I think the PDA receives more physical stress this way. I keep mine in my front pocket. So where do you keep your brain?

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

5 Minute Emergency Consult 2nd Edition

Skyscape's 5MEC 2nd Edition has been released.

"The thoroughly updated Second Edition of this best-selling PDA reference is a must-have for emergency departments, emergency medicine practitioners, and students beginning rotations in the emergency medicine setting. Covering over 600 clinical problems and containing the full text of the Second Edition, this quick-reference guide gives clinicians immediate information that is accurate, current, practical, pointed, and thoroughly complete. The well-organized coverage of each disorder includes clinical presentation, prehospital, diagnosis, treatment, disposition, and ICD-9/10 coding. New topics in this edition include heart murmur, cough, thrombolytic protocols, reperfusion therapy, hearing loss, and serum sickness. "

Medication and Mothers' Milk



TechMD in his comment on my post about Drugs in Pregnancy mentioned Thomas Hale's "Medications and Mothers' Milk".

You might be interested to check out Medilact 2002 which is the PDA version of the book.

There is a free Demo which contains 50 drugs to sample.

Each drug can be chosen and viewed on the screen, and if you have an infrared printer, you print the monograph and give to your client, patient, or physician.
I find the last bit really useful and every drug reference should have a "beamable" or printable portion which one can transfer - especially advice for patients.

Updates

Updated the Blogroll Palmblog links on the left - Johnwin's MyPalmLife has a new home and also added Guy's World Palmblog archives. I have highlighted The Doctors' Shack which is a Palm medical discussion forum.

EMG v1.0



EMG v1.0 is a free ThinkDB2 database by Michael Poon.

Description:
ThinkDB2 database of commonly sampled muscles relating to needle localisation method, common pitfalls, activation maneuvres and innervation.

Continuous Ambulatory Monitoring with PalmOS

Well not quite PalmOS alone. Vivometrics has come out with LifeShirt Garment, a device which can "measure pulmonary function - sensors are woven into the shirt around the subject's chest and abdomen. A single-channel ECG measures cardiac function, and a dual-axis accelerometer records subject posture and physical activity. "

"The LifeShirt Garment and peripheral devices attach into the LifeShirt Recorder/Subject Diary a PDA (handheld computer) that continuously encrypts and stores the subject's physiologic data on a compact flash memory card. Subjects may also record time-stamped symptoms, moods, activities and other endpoint-specific information in the Recorder's digital subject diary. These features let researchers correlate multiple objectively measured physiologic parameters with subjective input."

What PDA does it use? Well I suspect that's a Palm in the picture, quite possibly a Handspring (must be with a CF adaptor) ....

Natural Family Planning

NFP 2.4 has been updated and is available for free download.

Description:
A freeware program for tracking fertility, known as the Sympto-thermal Method, Fertility Awareness Method, Natural Family Planning, or Ovulation Method.
NFP is a program designed for Palm OS that allows a woman or a couple to track her fertility using a set of simple daily measurements.

NFP can be used either to avoid or achieve pregnancy.

It can be an effective chemical-free method of contraception, or it can be an inexpensive method of conception.

Another baby tracker

McBaby v1.0d is available for free download.

Description:
Keep track of your babies Birth Information, Doctor Information, Doctor Visits, Sicknesses, First Words, First Actions, Insurance, BabySitters, Check List, Multiple Notepad, and all the Well-Baby Checks from birth to 13 YOA to ensure you don't miss any shots.
Set alarms to remind you. It list the shots and what months to get them as recommended by the United States 2002 Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule.

SUNY Upstate Medical University uses the latest technology

pdaMD.com features this story on PDA usage in Syracuse Medical University by R. Eugene Bailey, M.D. Yet another MD tells of how a PDA is an essential tool for point-of-care access to medical information.

All may not be lost even without broadband. Have discovered Avantblog and if this post works then I can carry on blogging offline with Avantgo!!

Batteries and bacteria...

Brighthand — Three More Hot Technologies That Could Profoundly Change Handhelds: "When your bacterially-powered handheld starts to run low on power, you won't plug it into a wall socket. Instead, you'll pour in a bit of sugar. The sugar will be converted by a strain of bacteria called Rhodoferax ferriducens into carbon dioxide and electricity.
This is the invention of Swades Chaudhuri and Derek Lovley, who have a prototype that is an amazing 83% efficient. The two say their invention is cheap to make and can be used in environments as cold as 40 degrees and as hot as 86 degrees.
These two are currently working to turn their proof of concept into a real product. They see no reason why a bacterial battery couldn't be as small as a typical household battery today. "

The big question: will such revolutionary battery technology work in a hospital environment? The friendly bugs in your PDA may be killed off by the antiseptic and antibiotics permeating the air.... LOL
I can also predict if this thing works, the little packets of sugar in Starbucks will run out very quickly ;)

Seriously, battery technology needs to improve. The Tungsten T3 is fantastically rich in features. I can put lots more medical software, I can view text and data in widescreen mode, things run super fast BUT the PDA really sucks juice. I am a really heavy user so I had to get the Power-2-Go battery sled in order to use it in my clinic otherwise it wouldn't last the day without it going uncomfortably close to the shut down zone.
Now after my half day clinic ends, I have 100% juice still on my PDA. Without the P2G, by the end of the day, my battery level will be about 45-50%........

I'll be going off on Christmas holidays next week, away from broadband, so I may not be able to blog so much the coming week. My NEC notebook's harddisk just crashed too so all I have is my T3 and an old creakingly slow Twinhead notebook. Hope my co-bloggers can take up the slack!! . Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year!

ePocrates Integrates 5-Minute Clinical Consult

Palm Boulevard: News:

ePocrates plans to release a new handheld clinical reference application called ePocrates Dx, which it said will enable medical professionals to access data on over 1,200 diseases and conditions from the point-of-care.

Due next year, ePocrates Dx is distinct from both print and other handheld versions of the popluar clinical reference, as it will integrate with other ePocrates PDA products and updated and supplemented with content from other ePocrates medial information.

New diseases, or an outbreak of a disease that has re-emerged, for example, will be added to the clinical reference in real-time with users having access to up-to-date information whenever they sync their PDA.

Mark R. Dambro, M.D., the creator and editor of 5-Minute Clinical Consult, said "this partnership will result in a truly integrated handheld application that enables users to access up-to-date prescription and alternative medication drug reference information, an infectious disease database and now a comprehensive clinical reference -- wrapped in one easy-to-use source."

Drugs in pregnancy

A couple days back I wanted to recheck the usage of prednisolone in a patient with AIHA who was breastfeeding. Checking up ePocrates vs DxPreg™
According to ePocrates:
"Not safe for nursing infants; medication contraindicated or requires cessation of breast feeding"
According to DxPreg:
"The American Academy of Pediatrics considers prednisone to be compatible with breast feeding." DxPreg also gave references to studies which states that for maternals doses of 20mg once or twice daily, the nursing infant would be exposed to minimal amounts of steroid. At higher doses, they recommended waiting at least 4 hours after a dose before nursing was performed.

What contrasting advice!! I think the lesson is you've got to be careful when relying on the portable information you carry with you in your Palm. You ideally should carry more than one drug reference since there is no one best "all-rounder".

PS. The BNF has this to say about Corticosteroids in Breastfeeding:
"Systemic effects in infant unlikely with maternal dose of prednisolone up to 40 mg daily; monitor infant's adrenal function with higher doses—the amount of inhaled (sic) drugs in breast milk is probably too small to be harmful"

PDA Use Can Prevent More Than $100 Million in Medical Errors

Skyscape reports:

HUDSON, Mass. - December 15, 2003 - More than half the doctors in the United States use PDAs, and among residents and students the percentage is even greater ­therefore it is essential to understand how physicians can best use this technology to maximize their effectiveness. A new survey, released today, shows significant results about doctors’ increasing reliance on their PDAs and their impact on daily activities. More than 85 percent of the survey respondents pointed to PDAs as helping to reduce the number of medical errors, with more than 50 percent of doctors indicating PDA use reduces their medical errors by more than 4-5 percent. With the National Academy of Science – Institute of Medicine reporting that medical errors cost the healthcare system $2 billion a year, this equates to preventing more than $100 million in preventable drug errors alone. Yet less than 20 percent of medical professionals have their PDA software integrated with the larger hospital IT enterprise, signifying an area where there is still room for significant growth.

·The survey of more than 900 doctors who use handheld computers was conducted by Skyscape®, Inc. (www.skyscape.com), a leading provider of
enterprise-wide mobile medical and nursing reference solutions. Skyscape has researched PDA effectiveness for medical professionals for almost a decade­beginning with a landmark Constellation Project involving a study of Apple’s Newton platform with Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard
Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

“The survey results reinforced what we knew of the benefits PDAs bring medical professionals, but the impact PDAs have when it comes to reducing
medical errors, and improving efficiencies, exceeded our expectations,” said RJ Mathew, vice president, marketing and business development for
Skyscape. “The survey clearly shows physicians have moved into a mainstream reliance on PDAs and medical software for PDAs. The results show that just like the stethoscope, the PDA is increasingly becoming an integral tool in doctors' daily practice and by integrating medical references we can enable doctors and their enterprises to realize even greater benefits.”

Respondents to the Skyscape survey stated that PDA use provides significant benefits by enabling them to spend more time with patients, while still treating more each day, and by improving the overall quality of patient care. Specific results include:

* More than 88 percent of doctors use their PDAs at least four times a day, with 15 percent using their PDAs more than 25 times a day.

* When asked how they use their PDAs, 72 percent of doctors reported they rely on their PDA for treatment purposes­primarily using it for
drug references, clinical references, drug interaction guides or hospital treatment guidelines.

* Almost 90 percent of the doctors concluded that PDAs help them provide better care.

* Over 85 percent of physician respondents agreed that by using a PDA they had decreased the number of potential medical errors. And more
than 50 percent communicated that by using a PDA they were able to eliminate over 4 percent of medical errors.

* When asked to quantify the specific benefits PDAs bring to their daily practice, almost 20 percent of respondents concluded that PDA use
enables them to treat at least three more patients a day, with another 20 percent of respondents concluding that they can treat 1 – 2 additional
patients per day.

* Doctors do not just rely on one reference for their PDA. More than 70 percent of doctors have at least three medical references on their PDA
and 22 percent have more than eight references.

* Medical software for PDAs is increasingly being integrated with other applications but there is still significant room for growth. In each
case less than ten percent of medical professionals reported their PDA software is integrated with prescription, billing, charge capture or patient
records systems.

Skyscape solutions are increasingly being adopted by leading medical institutions, and today more than 240,000 medical professionals rely on
Skyscape-powered references. Over the next year, medical professionals will further increase their PDA usage, with industry analyst firm Forrester
Research reporting that 90 percent of all health systems are engaged in a handheld project or are considering one.

In the top ten for the week

Blogger Forum has chosen The Palmdoc Chronicles as one of the weekly Top Ten BlogSpot Sites

Here's my badge :




:D

Handyshopper and Health databases
Handyshopper 2.8 has just been updated. What's this got to do with Health & Medicine you ask? Well, HandyShopper is a great free shopping list tool, with plenty of features. You can even use it for other kinds of lists!
Visit the Handyshopper discussion group and you can see a list of Health related databases for Handyshopper

Any of you use Handyshopper too?

Cancer Prevention Tools

CA-Tools 1.0 is a free program provided by the Physician Oncology Education Program, under the auspices of the Texas Medical Association and The American Cancer Society - Texas division.
There are Palm and Pocket PC versions available for free download.

Features:
The following applications are contained within the CA-Tools:

· Warning Signs of Childhood Cancer – Provides a list of symptoms and warning signs that may indicate the presence of cancer, especially if they persist.
· Childhood and Adolescent Cancers – Lists types of childhood and adolescent cancers, risk factors, and common signs/symptoms.
· Skin Cancer – Lists various types of common indicators of skin cancer (A, B, C, D).
· "A" for Effort: Smoke-Free Patients – Provides guidance for physicians who are willing to assist their patents in quitting smoking.
· American Cancer Society Screening Recommendations for the Early Detection of Cancer – Describes who should be screened, when, and by what method. Covers Breast, Cervix, Colon and Rectum, Endometrium and Prostate Cancers, as well as a Cancer-Related Checkup.
· Pain Medications – Lists oral and parenteral equi-analgesic doses, as compared with a standard dose of 10 mg of parenteral morphine. It also lists available dosage forms and duration of action of each main medication.
· Drug Calculations – Allows the user to compute dosage equivalents for any two drugs in the database. All calculations are in milligrams and are based on 24-hour usage of medication.
· Pain Management – Lists pain definitions, types of pain, categories of pain, scope of the problems, effects of untreated pain, assessing pain, treating pain and specific pain sites, resources, and JCAHO Standards.
· PSA Information – Provides information to assist physicians who are willing to participate in informed decision-making with patients considering having a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to detect prostate cancer.

Opinion:
Free app. Not bad for a Primary Care Physician but somehow I found it not very "meaty" enough. Short on facts and references. The Drug calculator seems buggy and I could not say convert Morphine to Fentanyl.

Pubmed in your Palm

PubMed On Tap v1.2 has been released - completely free.


Description:
PubMed on Tap is an application for PDAs that facilitates Internet access to NLM's MEDLINE database using PubMed ultilies.
PubMed on Tap is a developing application targeted at mobile health care professionals.

The goal of our project is to discover and implement design principles that will facilitate practitioners' access to medical information at the point of service.

Currently the application supports retrieval of MEDLINE® citations from a PDA through a wireless connection to the Internet.

PubMed on Tap options include several PubMed search limits, email of citations, and clustered results.

Impressing your patients with cool gadgets

One of the things about using your Palm in place of a desktop PC or notebook in your office is that it never fails to fascinate patients (I guess they think I'm extra geeky).
I am still using my trusty PPK now with my T3 (and Power to Go for the extra juice). The wireless keyboard looks cool but I would sorely miss the top row for easy access to numbers.



Patients get really fascinated when they see IR printing from my Palm to my Canon BJ50 printer. They are amazed when I tell them my T3 + keyboard combo is still way cheaper than a notebook and much more portable too!

So when you are you gonna get that keyboard? :)

5MCC 2004 from Skyscape
Skyscape has also updated their version of Griffith's 5 Minute Clinical Consult 2004.
Description:
The 5-Minute Clinical Consult 2004 for PDAs is a comprehensive and structured clinical resource for handheld devices, and is one of the most respected sources of information for medical disorders. It covers more than 1,000 medical/surgical conditions and is indexed with more than 7,500 terms and medications to help clinicians locate the desired information quickly.
Features include:
Fully customizable by allowing users to add notes and create new personal topics
Provides more than 85% of updated topics
New topics detail SARS and Zygomycosis
New treatments and medications to reflect newly released drugs
An ICD-9-CM code index
New insights from more than 330 experienced clinicians
Coverage of each topic includes basics, diagnosis, treatment, medications, follow-up, and miscellaneous considerations

5MCC 2004

Palm Boulevard: News: Unbound Puts Consult in Physicians' Hands:


Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult (5MCC), 2004 from Unbound Medicine is a clinical resource for health professionals with Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds.

According to the company, 5MCC ($64.95) covers more than 1,000 medical/surgical conditions and is indexed with over 7,500 terms and medications to help students and practitioners locate desired information quickly. Users can select subjects from the "Topics", "Medications" or "ICD Codes" indexes and then review the Basics, Diagnosis, Treatment, Medications, Follow-up, and other considerations.

A Doctor in your Pocket

PocketDoctor is an Avantgo Channel which you can access from your offline browser like Avantgo or Plucker. I stumbled upon it when looking for things to add to my Plucker channels. I have found Plucker Jpluck an excellent combo for taking things from the web on your Palm. The beauty is Plucker is free and there is no 2MB restriction which the free Avantgo places - you are only limited by your Ram.
Anyway POcket Doctor is a free medical reference for the layman. It has a mini-encyclopedia called "Heath-E-Ref" where you can browse for medical conditions aphabetically or by body zone. It's not comprehensive but still quite extensive.
I like the DoctorQ section - Suggests questions to ask your doctor, depending on the medical situation, ranging from what to do when prescribed medicine to what questions to ask when going into hospital for surgery
There is also a Doctor-on-call phone service available only in the UK and chargeable at £1.50 per minute.

Free ID related references




Febrile Neutropenia is a free iSilo reference by Steve Burdette.
Description:
A basic one page reference to the approach to and management of fever in the neutropenic patient.
Organized with a hyperlinked table of contents. Compact and easy to use.





Antibiotic Mechanisms is another reference by Steve Burdette

Description:
A one page reference listing the mechanisms of action of antibiotics. Hyperlinked table of contents makes it easy to find the drug you're looking for.




Overwhelming Postsplenectomy Infection

Description:
A basic one page reference to overwhelming infection in the patient with surgical or functional asplenia.





West Nile Virus 2003 is a reference by Bob Hoyt

Description:

Very nice, easy-to-use reference to West Nile Virus infection. Includes case definitions, lab diagnosis, and clinical management. Well organized with a hyperlinked table of contents and bookmarks. Get it!


Zoonotic Diseases Tutorial by Chris Olsen

Description:
Compilation from a veterinary medicine website detailing zoonotic infections (infections that are transmitted between man and animals). Includes lots of details about background information, organism life cycles and symptoms but doesn't detail treatment in humans. Overall, a nice collection of information that could make interesting reading during down times.

Another mnemonics program

Differential Diagnosis Mnemonics v1.0 has just been released by Michael Ward.
Description:
This program helps healthcare providers come up with a differential diagnosis based upon the chief complaint.
Original, useful, easy to remember and thorough mnemonics will help providers in identifying the cause of the patient''s chief complaint.

The download is from Freewarepalm.com but apparently it is a demo version and the full version has to be purchased from the author

The future is wireless

A couple of WiFi news items from Palm Boulevard.

Palm Boulevard: News: Tungsten C Finds Way into Hospitals tells of Tungsten C devices being deployed in hospitals. Medical centres cited as examples are the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Indiana-based St. Mary's Health System and Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University.

Direct Web Access to Patient Data details how QDX Physician Portal "enables doctors, surgeons, nurses and consultants to have real-time access, via a Web browser, to a patient's electronic health records and test results, allowing them to review lab and test results as well as all of an organization's clinical, financial and demographic information in an aggregated fashion. "

Diagnosaurus - FREE Differential Diagnosis Tool!
http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/medical/diagnosaurus/index.html
Diagnosaurus is a free differential diagnosis (DDx) PDA tool from McGraw-Hill Professional. It is available in both PalmOS and PocketPC. Try it! =P