Other PDA-related Sites
VCU's AvantGo Channel
VCU POPS
PDA Projects at Virginia Commonwealth University
PDA Projects are
becoming very popular at VCU. The following is a list of
many of the current projects. Be sure to check frequently;
the list continues to grow:
Department of Nurse Anesthesia, School of Allied Health Professions This project has received grant funding to create simulator-based short video modules that can be viewed on both memory-intensive devices such as the HP Jornanda 540 color PDAs or on a dedicated personal computer. The department's "Center for Research in Human Simulation" (CRHS) is a 1,300 square foot facility that includes two full body patient simulators, one part-task simulator and state-of-the-art audio and video capabilities. Graduate Nurse Anesthesia students can quickly review standard anesthesia protocols and procedures along with digital photo presentations demonstrating the particular task. The photo presentations include sound files that allow graduate students to listen as Nurse Anesthesia faculty discuss proper procedures and tasks. Numerous patient profiles can be modeled on the full body patient simulators and visually communicated to students via PDAs or CDs. These video segments assist
graduate Nurse Anesthesia students in recognizing clinical
conditions and providing quality care when administering
anesthesia to patients. Contact Mimi
Hotchkiss, CRHS Director for further information. School of Medicine's Computer Based Instruction Lab (CBIL) Palmtop Medicine Project A group of medical students was
selected to join faculty in testing the usefulness of PDAs in
clinical settings. The PDAs were equipped with a year's
subscription to Handheldmed's Mobile Practice, which is a
collection of medical textbooks that includes The Merck Manual,
The 5 Minute Clinical Consult, Debowin's Diagnostic Examination,
The Physician's Drug Handbook and over 300 others. The
participants completed bi-monthly usage/experience reports and
attended user group meetings. More information about this
project is available at http://www.cbil.vcu.edu/publications/news/Vol6no3.pdf.
Also see http://www.cbil.vcu.edu/pda/
for further information. VCU Affiliated Riverside Family Practice Residency Program Each of the residents in
Riverside's Family Practice, combined OB-GYN/FP, and Transitional
residency programs were issued Palms to replace the
"peripheral brains" or large reference books that weigh
down the lab coats of professionals. See http://pbrain.hypermart.net/
for more information on this project. Client Services/Administrative Information Technology Several PDA projects are being developed. One project that has been implemented involves email connectivity for Lotus Notes users who have Palm OS devices using Lotus EasySync. This solution is for users with local connectivity to their PDA cradle. Another solution involves Lotus Notes connectivity via a PDA and wireless modem combination. This solutions uses Pylon ServerSynch, PylonPro, Minstrel wireless modems, and the CDPD wireless internet service. This allows a user to connect to his email, calendar or Notes databases via the Palm and a wireless modem. Future projects on the drawing
board include porting help desk software (cSupport) to the Palm
platform and expanding wireless and/or remote access.
Contact Marie Scott for
further information. The
Department of Surgery is using a Palm device to take attendance at
Grand Rounds.
The physicians attending the session swipe their VCUCard
through a magnetic stripe scanner that is attached to a Palm.
The scanner comes from IDTech and is attached to a Dynasys
Copilot interface.
The Palm is connected to this interface via its serial
port.
The card swipes are entered into a Pendragon form, which
executes a script that loops continuously so that multiple cards
can be swiped without having to tap the menu buttons.
The data is then synced with an Access database on the PC
from which attendance reports can be generated. Virginia
Institute for Developmental Disabilities
Academic Technology and VIDD are doing a PDA project that involves providing PDAs to several autistic individuals who will use them as communications aids. One individual does not have language skills and had to use an expensive cumbersome mechnical device in order to communicate with his co-workers. The project will provide this person with a HandEra 330 Palm OS PDA with MemoPlus installed so that he can more easily communicate his responses by writing on the PDA screen or tapping the menu to bring up stored responses. School of Pharmacy/Department of Pharmacy Some residents and faculty have
been provided with PDAs and asked to report how beneficial they
are in rounds and clinical rotation. More to come! Division of General & Trauma Surgery PDAs are being used for
scheduling, patient care notes, etc. More to come! |