Hand-held computers in health care: What software programs are available?

The technology sector of healthcare is entering a new evolutionary phase. The medical community has an obligation to the public to provide the safest, most effective healthcare possible. This is more achievable with the use of computer technology at the point of care, and small, portable devices could fulfil this role. A Modern Physician/PricewaterhouseCoopers 2001 survey on information technology in Physician practices found that 60% of respondents say that physicians in their organisation use PDAs, compare this with 26% in the 2000 technology survey. This trend is expected to continue to the point where these devices will have their position on a physician's desk next to their stethoscope. Once this electronic evolution occurs, the practice of medicine will change. Doctors will be able to practice medicine with greater ease and safety. In our opinion, the new generation of PDA mobile devices will be the tools to enable a transformation of healthcare to a paperless, wireless world. This article focuses on uses for PDAs in health care. Healthcare software is categorised into the following groups; reference/text book, calculators, patient management/logbook and personal clinical/study notebook. With a focus on the healthcare audience (the user), which can be registrar, consultant, nurse, student, teacher, patient, medical director and surgical.Unpublished1. Modern Physician 2001. . Accessed 25-2-2002. 2. AvantGo: Mobile Enterprise Software. Accessed 25-2-2002. 3. ePocrates, Inc. ePocrates RxTM clinical drug database for the Palm . Accessed 25-2-2002. 4. Welcome to TomeRaider from Proporta . Accessed 25-2-2002. 5. Prodigy Website . Accessed 25-2-2002. 6. Welcome to the iSiloTM website! . Accessed 25-2-2002. 7. Welcome to BestBETS . Accessed 25-2-2002. 8. Bringing Evidence to the Point of Care . Accessed 25-2-2002. 9. UpToDate: Welcome . Accessed 25-2-2002. 10. Maxillofacial Casualty Logbook . Accessed 25-2-2002