October 2000 • Post-Assembly Edition • Dallas
'Stethoscope of tomorrow' puts medical information at your fingertips
BY DENNIS CONNAUGHTON
Ever wished you could carry your office manager, PDR or Merck Manual around with you for quick and accurate answers to medical, scheduling or practice management questions?
Well, your wish has been granted in the form of a handheld electronic device: a personal data assistant, or PDA. And if the predictions come true that were made at the Assembly's course on PDAs in medicine, most primary care physicians will carry these gadgets in five years or less.
What's the lowdown on these nifty devices? And why should you carry one?
A PDA allows users to enter, link and retrieve data through various connecting interfaces, such as a personal computer or the Internet, said Michael Tuggy, M.D., assistant clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Washington's Swedish Family Medicine Residency in Seattle.
With a PDA, you can have instant access to: drug databases, medical formulas for calculating such handy things as a patient's cardiac risk, practice management software to track patient information and billing codes, prescription-writing software and graphics software to show the human anatomy.
Everyone will have one
"We think the PDA is the stethoscope of tomorrow," said Chris Vincent, M.D., clinical associate professor of family medicine, also from the University of Washington and Swedish Family Medicine Residency. "Within five years, everyone is going to have one. Already, maybe 20 percent of physicians have them."
There are a number of PDAs on the market today, including the Palm Pilot, Handspring and TRGpro. Each works with either a Palm operating system or a Windows CE operating system. Both systems interface with Windows operating systems on personal computers. The Palm OS also has a Macintosh interface. Palm offers a detachable keyboard, while Windows CE has an integrated keyboard.
Connect to your computer
All PDAs connect to desktop computers by cable, said the speakers. Some PDAs also allow you to send data and software programs by infrared beam, without using a cable, directly to other PDAs, to printers and even to desktop computers -- and to receive the same. Some have built-in modems for Internet access; others connect through a desktop computer.
Once your PDA is connected to the Internet, you can download data and software. To access, add or change data on your PDA, you use a stylus and a touch-sensitive screen -- or the detachable or integrated keyboard. When your PDA is connected to your desktop computer, you can make changes on both at the same time, Vincent said.
You can also keep an address book, appointment calendar, to-do list and other personal information on your PDA. Some allow you to access your e-mail directly without going through your desktop unit.
The future will bring more powerful PDAs, as well as integrated systems that will allow you to connect to hospital information networks for complete medical records.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
FP Report | Headlines |AAFP Home | Search