The Portable MD

Charge up your Palm with the best MD software

By Peter Woodford

Medical professionals were among the first to get hip to PDAs, and many of you won't leave home one. It all started in 1993 with Apple's Newton MessagePad. This ahead-of-its-time gadget was a smash hit with doctors but was shunned by the general public. When Apple finally axed the Newton in 1998 it was clear many MDs had developed an attachment to their PDAs, not unlike Charlton "my cold dead hands" Heston's gun fetish. Today's most popular PDAs are the Palm OS and PocketPC machines. Although each format holds roughly 50% of the overall market share, Palm is considerably more popular with docs -- reflected in the enormous amount of medical software available for Palms.

For physicians, PDAs are a godsend -- for instance, you can store easily updatable reference material such as drug dosages and interactions charts, which once had to be memorized or carried around in bulky reference manuals.

When choosing software and reference material to install on your PDA, memory is often a key issue. For example, the PEPID suite of medical software offers most of the functions the average doctor would want from his/her PDA, but it weighs in at a hefty 5.9 MB for Palm and 6.8 MB for Pocket PC, which could leave your device severely strapped for space. Add another 4.9 MB for the Merck Manual and the average PDA will be lighting the "no vacancy" sign. For any serious medical use you really should consider a higher-end PDA with at least 16 MB of memory. If you're feeling flush, invest in the newer 64 MB models such as the Palm Tungsten C. A machine with this kind of punch could make the difference between lumber and limber in your pocket.

The yen to pack as much as you can into a single electronic package is strong. Still, you should probably avoid the combo cell phone/PDA for a couple of reasons. First, they're less powerful than similarly priced PDA-only models; and second, many hospitals ban cell phone use -- and at this point in time you can't turn the phone off without also turning off the PDA.

Once you've "memoried-up" consider some of the packages available to you in the accompanying chart.

Popular palm packages
preferred by physicians

There's plenty of medical software for PDAs, but you won't find most of it in stores. You have to download it from the Internet to your desktop computer and then transfer it to your PDA. Don't worry -- it's easier than it sounds. Before you begin, for help and recommendations, be sure to check out the PDAMédical Canada Webring (http://f.webring.com/hub?ring=
canmdpalm) and the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine's great PDA page (http://handheld. medicine.dal.ca).

ELECTRONIC REFERENCES
EBM2GO A Canadian evidence-based medicine reference that's regularly updated. (www.ebm2go. com, free) The Merck Manual: This digital version contains all the information from the original in a searchable form. (www.handheldmed.com, $50) Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial therapy The PDA edition offers the same information as the print version. (www.sanfordguide.com, $25) Stedman's Medical Dictionnary At 16 MB, it's morbidly obese by PDA standards, but if you've got the space it's a fine reference. (www.stedmans.com, $50) PEPID This is an extensive suite of medical software for PDAs. It includes definitions, illustrations, medical calculators, SI units and Canadian trade drug trade names. (www.pepid.com, $110/12 month subscription) Lexi-Comp Online Offers databases on drugs with Canadian brand names, interactions, herbs, infectious diseases, dosing and more. (Both this and the OSLER below are free to CMA members through www.cma.ca -- click on PDA) OSLER Access to medical databases with full text journals and articles through OVID Medline and MD Consult.

PATIENT TRACKING/Rx
HandDBase Plus This PDA database software is very popular with your colleagues. You can use it to create paperless patient charts. The publisher's website offers many doctor - created databases as free downloads. (www.ddhsoftware.com, $30) Patient Tracker Software for storing patient records. (www.handheldmed.com, free)

CALCULATORS
MedCalc There are tons of medical calculators for the Palm OS, but unlike most of them, this application supports SI units. (www.collectivemed.com/jump/
medca.shtml, free) (All prices in US dollars.)

-- Peter Woodford (additional reporting by Michael Citrome)