Information on PDA Medical Applications

The fast pace of today's medical industry sometimes leaves most physicians with limited access to patients. In such an environment, any diversion from face time with a patient is costly. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) allow access to technology without significant breaks in the patient-doctor experience.

Technical Barriers

• Computers have always had the potential to enrich the quality of health care. Tools such as diagnostic aids, drug dosing calculators and analytical indexes have been in the computer domain for decades. However, the personal computer requires a level of attention that diverts the doctor's focus from the patient. Every moment a physician is looking at a computer monitor is time disconnected from the person they are trying to help. That barrier has prevented computerized tools from making headway in the clinical setting.

PDA Advantages

• PDA medical applications have considerable advantages over their computer-driven analogues. The small size of the PDA allows an almost innocuous way to enter and review data during the patient encounter, and the software is designed for simplicity of use. Given the number of free medical applications for the PDA, the cost of using them is a clear plus over the often-expensive medical health care tools for the PC.

Medical PDA Software

• The PDA community is a thriving world for free medical software. Several campuses with hospitals maintain file sections on their websites specifically devoted to free PDA utilities. Medical software vendors and medical forums also realize the advantage of the PDA and provide downloads and reviews of medical applications for them.