THE MOST VALUABLE COMPUTER is the one that is the most useful. As a family physician, I practice in several locations. The question I have always faced is: How can I have access to the capabilities that a computer provides, regardless of my location? The best answer I have come up with is the Palm Computer. The Palm allows me to carry summaries of my sick patients, including their drugs lists, collect billing information, look up data on disease diagnosis and treatment, look for drug interactions, and helps remind me to get patients in for HbA1c or regular ultrasounds for their abdominal aortic aneurysm. This handy device does all of this when I need it and with great reliability.

THIS IS NOT THE FIRST computer that I have tried to use in this way. A desktop computer is fine in the office, but useless everywhere else. I carried a laptop for a while but it was slow to boot up, would freeze up at awkward moments, and was giving me a brachial plexus injury from carrying it around. The Palm computer was the logical alternative. It is small enough to fit easily into a shirt pocket and has instant on/off capability. Due its robust design, the operating system is very stable so that crashes are extremely rare and easily fixed (a full re-boot takes about 10 seconds). Perhaps most importantly, there are a tremendous number of medical programs written for the Palm, the bulk of which can be downloaded directly off the Web.

THE PALM COMPUTER has several other features that make it unique. One of the most significant is its ability to Hot-Sync with Windows or Macintosh computers. This allows a complete backup of all the data and programs that are loaded on the Palm. Carrying out a Hot-Sync is simple. The user places the Palm computer in the cradle that is provided, and presses a button. The ‘backup’ is done automatically.  Even with a fully loaded Palm, the Hot-Sync only takes a minute. If my Palm is ever damaged or lost, I would obtain a new device, reverse the Hot-Sync process and be back in business within a few minutes. 

THERE ARE SEVERAL PROGRAMS that are pre-loaded on the Palm and are very useful to physicians. The calendar function is easy to use and allows events to be repeated in numerous ways. It was a simple process programming a repeating alarm to remind me that the Medical Staff meeting at my hospital takes place on the second Tuesday of each month (a good time to try out the chess game that I have on my Palm).  It was also easy to create a recurring event to recall one of my patients for a repeat lithium level. After great success, I have now started using my Palm to help me with the numerous recalls that are essential in the provision of good preventative medicine. 

IN FUTURE ARTICLES, I will explain exactly how I use my Palm computer as well as provide reviews of the numerous freeware, shareware and commercial medical software products that are available for this useful clinical tool.

Dr. Jay Mercer is a family physician in Ontario, Canada and is one of Canada's leading thinkers on the use of Palm computers in health care. He is also the founder of Applied Evidence Inc.