42 JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY NURSING 27:1 February 2001

C L I N I C A L N O T E B O O K

A fter 20 years of working in emergency nursing, Ihave begun to look for anything that saves metime or decreases the amount of information I

have to remember. The handheld computer is such a tool.Although there are many types of handheld computers onthe market, the “gold standard” is the Palm operating sys-tem (Palm OS) used by the Palm Pilot (Palm Inc, SantaClara, Calif ) and Handspring Visor (Handspring Inc,Mountain View, Calif ) companies. These companies makevarious models of handheld computers, but they all workessentially the same way. I personally chose to buy aHandspring Visor Deluxe model because at the time it wascheaper (I paid $249). Since that time, Palm has come outwith a comparable model for about the same price. TheHandspring Visor (unlike the Palm Pilot) comes with aport that enables the user to add modules, such as amodem, a global positioning device, or an MP3 player.You can also add memory modules and modules that comepreloaded with data, such as the Merck Manual or thePhysicians’ Desk Reference.

During the past 12 months, I have been collecting dataand software on my Visor for use in my nursing practice.The Visor and Palm Pilot come loaded with some basic soft-ware, such as “date book,” “to do list,” “address book,” and“memo pad.” These tools function much like their papercounterparts but are much easier to access and are search-able. For instance, my address book is divided into 8 cate-gories: intra-hospital, physicians, area hospitals, pharmacies,police departments, nursing homes, transport services, andcommunity agencies. Memo pad can be used to save notes,formulas, or anything else you would like to remember.

North Florida, where I practice emergency nursing, ishome to many Spanish-speaking farm workers. One of my

Easy Access to a

World of Information: Using a

Handheld Computer

Author: Terry Schneider, RN, BSN, CEN, Tallahassee, Fla

Terry Schneider, Big Bend Chapter, is Staff Nurse, Tallahassee MemorialHospital Emergency Center, Tallahassee, Fla.For reprints, write: Terry Schneider, RN, BSN, CEN, 4541 PecanBranch, Tallahassee, FL 32308 E-mail: schneid@supernet.net.J Emerg Nurs 2001;27:42-3.Copyright © 2001 by the Emergency Nurses Association.0099-1767/2001 $35.00 + 0 18/9/112978doi:10.1067/men.2001.112978

February 2001 27:1 JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY NURSING 43

CLINICAL NOTEBOOK/Schneider

favorite pieces of software is a Spanish translation applica-tion that I have edited with medical terminology. Whenobtaining a surgical consent, it is very helpful to know theSpanish word for clavicle or femur. Another great applica-tion is Five Minute Medical Consult, which is a large search-able medical text that links to Lexidrugs, a drug handbook.When I encounter a disease I am not familiar with, I look itup in Five Minute Medical Consult. Then, when I get tomedications, I am automatically linked to the appropriatedrug section in Lexidrugs.

I have ACLS protocols, rattlesnakebite protocols, herbal medicinedescriptions, and even a few novels,for that rare quiet moment betweencases.

I used to carry a calculator with a few formulasscrawled on a scrap of paper taped to its cover. Then Ifound a piece of shareware on the Internet called“Medcalc” that has about 40 medical calculations you useby simply plugging in the appropriate variables. An exam-ple would be: Infuse dobutamine at 5 µg per kg per minuteto a 70 kg man. You just pick the infusion formula, plugin the variables, and hit the “calculate” button. It is a lotfaster than hunting for the IV Drip Book.

Documents can be downloaded from the Internet orconverted from your own word processing programs andloaded onto the handheld computer. I have ACLS proto-cols, rattlesnake bite protocols, herbal medicine descrip-

tions, and even a few novels, for that rare quiet momentbetween cases.

Every morning before work, I put my Visor in its cra-dle and hit the Hotsync button that connects the Visor tomy desktop computer. The cable and desktop software areincluded in the price of the computer. The Visor then logsonto the Internet and downloads news, weather, sports,and stock information that I have previously programmedit to find. It also downloads the latest emergency articlesfrom the Medscape Web site, and now that Journal ofEmergency Nursing is on-line for ENA members andJournal subscribers (www.mosby.com; www.ena.org), I willbe carrying those articles around in my back pocket also.

I have only mentioned a few of the thousands of appli-cations written for the Palm OS. Some programs are free;others are called “shareware” and are available for a nomi-nal fee ($5 to $30). Commercial programs like thePhysicians’ Desk Reference or the Merck Manual can run asmuch as $100. If you want to see what is available outthere, just log onto sites like www.palmgear.com orwww.healthypalmpilot. com. Remember that you must backup your handheld data regularly. If you drop the device ona hard tile floor, it will break and your data could be lost.

Send descriptions of procedures in emergency care and/or quick-ref-erence charts suitable for placing in a reference file or notebook to:

Gail Pisarcik Lenehan, RN, EdD, FAANc/o Managing Editor, PO Box 489, Downers Grove, IL 60515

630 663-1263 • khalm@ena.org