| The PDA or personal data assistant is among the | | | | professionals solutions that have helped enhance |
| most recent lightest and smallest and is an | | | | the quality of patient care. Skyscape possesses |
| increasingly popular handheld device for the | | | | hundreds of references covering every medical |
| medical professional. They can execute many | | | | profession and claims that over 400,000 |
| functions as desktop computers. | | | | healthcare professionals rely on its nursing |
| There are two major operating systems for the | | | | software clinical drug and I references for |
| PDA, mainly Palm OS and Pocket PC, which was | | | | accurate, confident and inform decision-making at |
| previously known as Windows CE. At the present | | | | point of care. |
| time, nursing software market is dominated by | | | | Time is of the essence in the ICU or intensive |
| the Palm OS. Besides the inbuilt nursing software, | | | | care unit and rapid access to this information on |
| one probably needs additional nursing software to | | | | the PA is necessary. Keeping track of the |
| realize the full potential of the PE eight. The | | | | up-to-date medical data is critical and indispensable |
| nursing software used by PDAs can handle many | | | | if healthcare professionals need to make |
| different functions like storing and retrieving | | | | well-informed decisions at the point of care. The |
| patient's medical history. Prescriptions, fluids, vitals, | | | | nurse's software computerize is the medical |
| labs, orders, calculators, references, care plans, | | | | information such as the clinical educational, |
| nursing actions, and hundreds of treatment | | | | research, administrative and quality improvement |
| assessments. | | | | data, enabling the PDAs to provide instant |
| There are several resources were freeware | | | | assessments at your fingertips thereby saving |
| nursing software applications can be downloaded. | | | | valuable time and perhaps a patient's life. |
| The nature of nursing software packages usually | | | | I have personally met with doctors who use a |
| comes at a price that constantly ranges from $30 | | | | PDA. In my case, the doctor was checking a new |
| for the most basic ones up to $300 for the highly | | | | prescription medication that he was going to |
| advanced versions. Freeware applications can be | | | | prescribe for me to make sure there were no |
| and collective sky scape has the most extensive | | | | side effects that would happen with the other |
| and complete collection of medical reference tools | | | | medications I'm taking. It is amazing how fast a |
| for PDAs. | | | | doctor can look up drug on the PDA and check its |
| Since the early 1990s, Skyscape has been | | | | pros and cons before prescribing medication to |
| providing medical reference data in an insightful | | | | the patient. |
| and easy to use system offering healthcare | | | | |