Droid for Doctors

[dlee4]

I've benefited from this website. so i guess its my turn to contribute.

I recently switch from Palm Centro to Motorola Droid. I have been with Palm for about 8 yrs and know the system by heart. It was hard to let it go but syncing problem with Windows 7 even with bluetooth and lack of support for software made me switch.

This review is from the perspective of a doctor or medical personnel

Pros:
-Now has Epocrates ( just the free version).
-Skyscape has a bunch of medical textbooks on Android. Skyscape applications need a separate program called Palm classic for Palm Pre
-Can use push email for work ( microsoft exchange) and yahoomail.
-Great graphics to show patients when explaining diseases.
-GPS is very good and comparable to a garmin.
-Camera has flash. good for sending to a dermatologist for a diagnosis
-Larger than Centro but about same size as older Palms. not a dealbreaker
- Has a touchscreen ( in contrast to conventional Blackberries). The other one i considered was blackberry tour but it didnt have wifi
-Access to Hospital portal , my hospital uses Horizon portal


Cons:
-No solid notepad. I have notes from residency that i like to glance at once in a great while. There's Gdocs but i have concerns about privacy with online access since i put sensitive info on my notes.
-Sanford guide for antibiotics is not available on Android.
-Generally dont like slideouts/ moving parts but Droid feels solid.
-Difficult sync as i had to transfer contacts and calendar to google then droid


Palm desktop is dying by the wayside. It was an excellent system and dont know why they didnt support it. I still miss Palm desktop's simplicity and quick pull up of information. But Droid is an acceptable replacement. Theres a learning curve but do-able for a low tech type person like myself.

There you go. hope that helps

 

[pyro6128]

Welcome aboard! What are you looking for in a notepad? What format are the notes that you currently have from residency that you want to put on the droid?

 

[dlee4]

Notepad

My notes are on Palm Desktop Notes. I have about 450 categorized under different topics. I tried Gdocs with sync but using Google docs online was not easy. Any suggestions?

 

[emtbianco]

documents to go

i use the full version of documents to go. It has folder option for recently viewed documents. you can also edit and email docs also

 

[cardiacmd]

I'm a first year md student and am hoping that the next few years are going to prove that android is just as capable as any other pda out there. I definitely love that epocrates is now available and the wifi/portal access is great. Not to mention, how sweet the display is. I've used it to look up in class ppts (w/ doc2go) and actually take notes on it. It's only a matter of time I think. Let me know if you find any other useful apps to get.

 

[pyro6128]

Yea I've been testing out the full version of documents 2 go and it might be just what you need. I don't know if your files would be compatible, but if you could change them to a word or pdf file, that would be a good option for you. I might read the files as is, but I doubt it.

 

[get quad]

Trust me, go ahead and purchase Documents to Go for android in the market. Nothing like your notepad being a Word doc.

 

[paq237]

Policy Transcends Tech

Welcome to the forum... Glad to here you are enjoying the Droid.

I can't help but be concerned with some of your statements...
> -Camera has flash. good for sending to a dermatologist for a diagnosis
> -Access to Hospital portal , my hospital uses Horizon portal

While technically sound remarks - you should speak with your IT representatives. There are limitations with respect to how you can use your capable phone in medical (and other policy-rich) environments. HIPAA requirements will have an impact how you may use your new toy at work. Breaking this policy can get you (and your organization) in some hot water.

Regards

paq237

 

[jimnutt]

Evernote works well for notes, but it syncs to the cloud and I'm not sure that's something you want to do with medical information. The windows version supports encrypting portions of notes, but it's not supported on android yet.

 

[truckbutt]

Thanks for the info on Epocrates availability. I installed it and registered after about 5 failed attempts. Now it works fine.
I have to agree with what was said above. Putting pt. information on a personal device is probably against your facility's pt. confidentiality policies. Imagine if you lost it, or someone gained access to it.
Regards,
Scott

 

[ZBoater]

My wife is a pediatrician, and another thing she likes is getting her pages on the Droid instead of carrying a pager. Handcent is her favorite app...

 

[kylereu]

This is good info, I was looking for a good note program as well, I think I have found it now.

 

[jdoc]

Welcome to the forum... Glad to here you are enjoying the Droid.

I can't help but be concerned with some of your statements...
> -Camera has flash. good for sending to a dermatologist for a diagnosis
> -Access to Hospital portal , my hospital uses Horizon portal

While technically sound remarks - you should speak with your IT representatives. There are limitations with respect to how you can use your capable phone in medical (and other policy-rich) environments. HIPAA requirements will have an impact how you may use your new toy at work. Breaking this policy can get you (and your organization) in some hot water.

Regards

paq237

I doubt that taking a picture of a rash is a violation. I imagine that he had their permission and did not attach any other sort of information.

 

[Fultz33]

I was browsing the market and came across an app called Note Everything. In the description it says imports notes from palm/outlook. Maybe what you want.

 

[krishriaz]

I've benefited from this website. so i guess its my turn to contribute.

I recently switch from Palm Centro to Motorola Droid. I have been with Palm for about 8 yrs and know the system by heart. It was hard to let it go but syncing problem with Windows 7 even with bluetooth and lack of support for software made me switch.

This review is from the perspective of a doctor or medical personnel

Pros:
-Now has Epocrates ( just the free version).
-Skyscape has a bunch of medical textbooks on Android. Skyscape applications need a separate program called Palm classic for Palm Pre
-Can use push email for work ( microsoft exchange) and yahoomail.
-Great graphics to show patients when explaining diseases.
-GPS is very good and comparable to a garmin.
-Camera has flash. good for sending to a dermatologist for a diagnosis
-Larger than Centro but about same size as older Palms. not a dealbreaker
- Has a touchscreen ( in contrast to conventional Blackberries). The other one i considered was blackberry tour but it didnt have wifi
-Access to Hospital portal , my hospital uses Horizon portal


Cons:
-No solid notepad. I have notes from residency that i like to glance at once in a great while. There's Gdocs but i have concerns about privacy with online access since i put sensitive info on my notes.
-Sanford guide for antibiotics is not available on Android.
-Generally dont like slideouts/ moving parts but Droid feels solid.
-Difficult sync as i had to transfer contacts and calendar to google then droid


Palm desktop is dying by the wayside. It was an excellent system and dont know why they didnt support it. I still miss Palm desktop's simplicity and quick pull up of information. But Droid is an acceptable replacement. Theres a learning curve but do-able for a low tech type person like myself.

There you go. hope that helps

Wow! What a informative information is this! For doctors and also for normal people android phone is very useful. We all know how this phone helps other people but as a doctor how this phone helps a doctor which is described here with its pros and cons is really very amazing and good.