In the push to fit the knowledge base of medical practice into smaller and smaller spaces, trying to memorize textbooks is becoming increasingly difficult. As a result, the handheld computer has become an invaluable tool to many practitioners. Pocket Emergency Medicine for PDA is one of many peripheral brains the emergency practitioner is currently using to access that information in a moment's notice.
This product is the handheld version of the popular paperback pocket version containing the same information and designed in the same format. In the PDA format, the information is ultimately more portable. The challenge always is to make it more quickly accessible. I believe that the editors have achieved this goal.
The layout is similar to many pocket references in that there is more than one way to access information. One can write in a key word and hit the binocular icon to “look” for the topic. There are several hundred key words to access; some are just a part of another topic, and some are topics unto themselves. They are all listed under the main index menu. Alternatively, one can just go to the main index menu, which lists alphabetically all topic headings.
One can go to the medication index, which lists alphabetically its referenced medications. In no way does the medication information in this program substitute for a prescribing or interaction reference. In most cases, the medications referenced link you to a topic in which they might be used but rarely give dosing, interaction, and side effect data.
Lastly, users can simply go through the table of contents to try to find what they need. It is divided up into 5 major subheadings: chief complaints, trauma, pediatrics, environmental exposures, and airway management. There are 57 chief complaints, a head-to-toe organization for traumatic injuries, pediatric emergencies based on frequency of issues (ie, abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting, seizure, limp, jaundice, blue baby), or environmental exposures. Each topic under a subheading has concise, bulleted data on history, common examination findings, critical studies, interventions, and “clinical pearls.” The airway management section is a fairly thorough course in orotracheal rapid sequence intubation and its indications.
Originally marketed to the student and resident, it has been well received by this group. The most obvious reason is its practicality. It is not meant to substitute for an exhaustive data repository. Rather, it does find a niche as a quick guide for what basics and essentials not to forget and leaves room for additions and customization. This latter feature acknowledges the constantly changing nature of the field of emergency medicine and leaves room for adaptation.
Those practitioners unfamiliar with using a handheld device will find the program easy to pick up and learn. I found that it did not augment or change my normal daily activities involving patient care. Most residency-trained and practicing emergency physicians will find the contents at a basic level, an “essentials level,” reminding us of what we already know or once knew. There were several instances where my clinical experiences yielded more depth of information than was contained in the PDA program, but this was not the rule. I can see this resource as a true asset to the medical student, physician assistant/nurse practitioner student, or emergency medicine resident in training. For the emergency physician who is out of practice or for the part timer, it may also provide a crucial reinforcement.
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