text: Anyone use PDA or hand held PC? - General Students - allnurses®
  Anyone use PDA or hand held PC?
  Specializes in Cardiac ICU. Has 20 years experience.
  i will be starting the spring '08 rn program soon and wondering if any of you use a pda, palm pilot or hand held pc? i really know nothing about these devices and can't help but wonder if they're a good idea. if you do use one, what brand do you have and what do you like/dislike most about it? your thoughts, please...thanks a bunch!
  richardjboro1
  Palm tungsten, use it hourly at least in clinical, and very often in class. Am a junior BSN student and couldnt live without it. I have mosby's drug guide and RN Notes from skyscape.com. Lots of cool other applications for it as well.
  I haven't started my nursing program yet (start in Dec), but I use my PDA all the time for Pharm and Micro. It really depends on how tech savvy you are, and whether or not you would rather look something up in a book, or have it in your pocket. If you're pretty good with computers, a PDA may help a lot, and if not, it may seem like a useless expense.
  I could not survive school without my PDA. I have a Palm Tungsten E2 with Nursing Central installed and I just don't know what I would do without it. My back would hate me a lot more than it does already, that's for sure - my PDA replaces about 4 textbooks on a daily basis and it is SO nice to be able to look up a med fact or lab result quickly at the bedside without having to go search for a book.
  laurainri
  pda is one way to save your back. I love nursing central & use all of them in there. also IV med book I got also. anything that is required for school and i can get it in palm version I do
  Palm Tungsten here too. I love it! I use it all of the time and it was definitely the best purchase I bought for school.
  Danish, MSN, APRN, NP
  Specializes in vascular surgery.
  I have the Palm Tungsten too. I wasnt allowed to use it at clinicals until my third semester, but I couldnt have made it without it.
  i got a palm lifedrive as a birthday gift a couple of weeks ago & i really like it. i've only had one clinical since i received it & it was really helpful with drug interactions & looking up drug info & terms that my clinical instructor asked me to find out about. it's not really necessary to have a PDA (i'm the only one in my clinical group that has one & only one other person in our entire class has one) but it's definitely helpful. i'm only in my first semester, but i'm guessing i'll use it more as i go farther into my program.
  I love my Palm. I am in my last semester of nursing school. My husband has a windows based PDA and I find it more difficult to navigate but it could be that I am used to my Palm. I carry it to clinicals to replace my drug guide and Tabers. Love it, love it, love it.
  It would be helpful if you could say which model you had as well. Tungsten E2, T3, T5, etc.
  I have a Palm E2 and I love it. I don't have to worry about carryig the books I need to clinicals and having to find a spot for them. I have all kinds of programs on it. I'm the only one in my clinical group that has one but I know of a few other students that do and we all use it everyday.
  Oh my god I literally couldn't survive (well I guess I could...lol) without my Palm TX! There is no way is heck I would have time to look up drugs especially now that I'm doing clinicals in the ICU. I used it on all sorts of drips I was hanging today....because I did all my preclinical paperwork/drugs last night and when I got there today everything was different.
  To me it is a a great investment and everyone is always wanting to use my Palm (especially the RNs!) because it is that awesome.
  I have Davis Drug Guide and Tabers, a lab guide, my powerpoints and notes from class, pictures, music, games, etc on that sucker and there is still a ton of room left over (definately make sure you get a PDA with a memory slot).