PDA and Smartphone Resources

PDAs and Smartphones are rapidly gaining importance as information seeking and gathering tools, especially in the health professions. Explore the following resources to learn more about PDAs.

Buying Guides and Reviews

Health Care Resources

General Resources

Brighthand: PDA and Smartphone Reviews

c|net Reviews: Handhelds Buying Guide

Consumer Reports Buying Advice: PDAs

Consumer Reports Buying Advice: Smartphones

MobileTechReview: PDA and Smartphone Reviews

PC Magazine: Handhelds: The Essential Buying Guide

PC World: Finding Deals on Portable Technology

PDA Buzz: PDA and Smartphone Reviews

PDA Street: Reviews

"Practicing Medicine in a Technological Age: Using Smartphones in Clinical Practice"

Authors include WSU's own Dr. Thomas E. Herchline and Dr. Steven D. Burdette.
Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases July 1,2008.

Yahoo Tech: PDA and Smartphone Review

Unless described as FREE, these resources generally require purchase by each individual user. Many of these commercial resources offer a free trial version or a demo version.

Smartphone applications and/or wireless access are indicated where available.  For additional software and websites for smartphones, please see the clickable links in the table on page 120 of Burdette’s, Herchline’s, and Oehler’s Practicing Medicine in a Technological Age: Using Smartphones in Clinical Practice (July 1, 2008).

5-Minute Clinical Consult

911™ Free Emergency Responder Resource

Registration with SkyScape is required.

Access Medicine (not full e-books--individual content pages only) FREE to valid WSU users

You can download content to your PDA from any content page by clicking on the "Save for PDA" link. (Note: Harrison's on Hand and other complete e-books for PDA are available for separate purchase).

Clinical Pharmacology on Hand FREE to valid WSU users but a promotional code is required to download the software from off campus.

Only Palm OS or Pocket PC currently supported, but some smartphone users have also had some success if running a Palm or Pocket PC/Windows Mobile operating system.

Contact the FHSL Information Desk (775-2005) for a promotional code and login instructions. IMPORTANT: After you get your promotional code, please read download instructions.

Clinical Practice Guidelines for Handheld Computers FREE

Palm and web access. National Guidelines Clearinghouse page that describes how to view all its guidelines with a Palm OS or Pocket PC PDA. Links to other sources of free clinical guidelines for PDAs, such as the American College of Cardiology, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, etc.

Diagnosaurus FREE

For Palm, Pocket PC/Windows Mobile. A differential diagnosis tool.

Dr Drugs (Davis’s Drug Guide for Physicians)

For BlackBerry, iPhone/iPod Touch, Palm OS, Symbian S60 (3rd ed.), Windows Mobile/Pocket PC/Smartphone.

Drug Guide (Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses)

For BlackBerry, iPhone/iPod Touch, Palm OS, Symbian S60 (3rd ed.), Windows Mobile/Pocket PC/Smartphone.

EBM Tools FREE

For Palm or Pocket PC. See "Handheld Resources." Inludes EBM calculators, EBM tables, and a Clinical Questions Logbook. Designed to calculate relevant statistics for diagnostic studies, prospective studies, case control studies, and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Produced by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Epocrates RX, MedTools, & Mobile CME FREE (see Free Products for Mobile Devices)

For Palm, WinMobile, iPhone/iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Windows Smartphone.

• More than 3,300 brand & generic drugs, including dosing, interactions, adverse reactions, & more
• MultiCheck multiple-drug interaction checker
• Integrated health insurance formularies (including Medicare Part D formularies)
• MedMath medical calculators
• Free on-the-go learning center for mobile devices
• Clinical and specialty news
• Continual free updates

Epocrates software with additional features (symptoms assessment tool and lab values references, and more) is available for purchase.

Geriatrics at Your Fingertips FREE for AGS Student Members (AGS Student Membership also free)

This text on geriatric assessment and treatment is free but requires registration.

Harrison's Manual of Medicine

For Palm, Pocket PC web, and wireless (for smartphones) access all included in one price.

Lexi-Comp

For Palm, Pocket PC, Blackberry. Drug, lab tests, diagnostic and other software available as a single or a bundled purchase.

Medical Mnemonics

For Web, Palm, PDF, Avant Go, WAP. A free database of medical mnemonic aids contributed by current and former medical students.

Medical Pocket PC

Commercial software. Also includes reviews. Pocket PCs only.

Medical Wizards

Commercial software, categorized by relevance to medical students, nursing students, physician assistant students, and physicians and nurses in various specialties.

Mobile Merck Medicus FREE to licensed health professionals

For Palm, Windows Mobile (all platforms), wireless. Free download includes the Merck Manual, 17th edition, Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests, Reuters Medical News, and Merck Medicus and MEDLINE searching. Requires registration with a professional license number.

NLM Mobile (PubMed, Wireless System for Emergency Responders, AIDSinfo, NCBI Bookshelf) FREE

Links to the National Library of Medicine's free PDA applications--PubMed ("MD on Tap"), PubMed PDA-accessible browser, Wireless System for Emergency Responders (WISER), AIDSinfo, and downloadable books from the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Palmdoc Chronicles

PDA-related news briefs and links.

Pocket Consult (via MD Consult) FREE to valid WSU users

For Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 5 (most non-phones and some phones) Selected journal articles, medical news, calculators, and more. Free to Wright State students, faculty, and staff through WSU's institutional subscription. Requires establishing a free personal account with MDConsult. Select the "create account " link on the top right corner of the page. Once your personal account is created, click the "My PDA" link to get started. Call the Fordham information desk at 775-2005 for assistance with the download.

Psychiatry Online (not full e-books--individual content pages only) FREE to valid WSU users

Save and download PsychiatryOnline content to your PDA from any content page by clicking on the "Save for PDA" link. (Note: Complete PDA versions of the DSM-IV-TR® Handbook of Differential Diagnosis and other e-books are available for separate purchase from this site.

RNLabs (Nurses’ Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests)

For Blackberry, iPhone/iPod Touch, Palm OS, Symbian S60 (3rd ed.), Windows Mobile/Pocket PC/Smartphone.

Thompson Clinical Xpert™/PDR.net FREE to licensed health professionals

For PDA and wireless. Access to PDR.net and Thomson Clinical Xpert is available free of charge to U.S.-based MDs, DOs, Dentists, Optometrists, NPs and PAs in full-time patient practice, and to U.S. medical students, residents and other select prescribing allied health professionals.

Unbound Medicine

Commercial software powered by the CogniQ interface. Also has smartphone software.

Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics

For BlackBerry, iPhone/iPod Touch, Palm OS, Symbian S60 (3rd ed.), Windows Mobile/Pocket PC/Smartphone.

WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders)

For Palm, Pocket PC WebWISER includes support for PDA browsers, including BlackBerry, Pocket PC, Palm, iPhone, and many other phones.

Handango

Commercial software. View software by device.

Handheld News

Includes software directory, news, mailing lists, message boards, classified ads, and reviews (software, hardware, and peripherals).

PDA Street

Freeware, shareware, commercial software.

Pocket Gear

Freeware, shareware, hardware. Can browse software by subject including Medical.

Skyscape

Aggregator of medical mobile resources & tools.

Tucows PDA : Software Downloads

Freeware, shareware, and commercial software categorized by type (calculators, games, medical, miscellaneous, etc.). Tucows software reviewers rate the software based on several factors (including the availability of documentation and customer support). Each title also receives a popularity rating based on user downloads.