Transcript The Use of Handheld Computers in Academic Medicine

The Use of Handheld Computers
in Academic Medicine
Todd Burdette
DMS ‘04
Medical Schools and PDAs, a Trend
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Schools That Require Palm OS handhelds for
M3 and M4:
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–
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–
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Wake Forest
University of S. Florida
University of S. Dakota
Harvard*
East Carolina University
UNC Chapel Hill
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*Either Palm or Pocket PC
Why Study Handheld Computers in
Medicine?
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February, 2000: A survey at Mount Sinai dept. of
Internal Medicine showed 60% attendings and 47%
residents owned PDAs.
DMS 3rd Year Clerk PDA Ownership May 2001
n= 43
20
15
10
5
0
Own
Will Buy
Undecided
Won't Buy
Students Use PDAs mostly as a
reference tool

Drug Reference: i.e. Epocrates qRx
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Clinical Knowledge: i.e. 5 minute clinical consult
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2nd year – mechanism of action
3rd and 4th years – dosing, adverse effects, interactions
2nd year – Disease natural history, treatments, diagnosis etc.
3rd and 4th years – DDx, Assessment and Plan
Medical Dictionary: i.e. Taber’s
Medical Calculators:
Database Documents:
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Shots
Cardiac Risk
Perceived Value of Handhelds by Clerks
(1 = worthless, 5 = absolutely essential to daily work)
n = 18
8
7
# of Students
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Increasing Value
3rd and 4th Year Students Say They Would Have
Valued These Applications During 2nd Year
n = 21
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Epocrates qRx
5 Minute
Clinical Consult
Medical
Dictionary
Medical
Calculator
Merck Manual
DMS Computing PDA Pilot Project
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Goal: Study the use of PDA reference tools by 2nd
year students to determine usefulness
 Details: Begin October, 2001
– 24 Palm OS PDAs (donated by:Palm Inc.)
– 8 each with either 5MCC, Taber’s, or Merck (Provided
by: Biomedical libraries)
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Focus groups and surveys throughout the year to
gather feedback
Recommendation to MEC April, 2002
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Hardware
– Software