What's New

March 31, 2002

 
Those of you using MedRules might want to download the latest update. By popular demand, MedRules version 2.5 allows you to disable the user agreement dialog that pops up each time you run the program by checking a box on the "About MedRules" screen.
posted by Kent 9:00 PM | |

March 28, 2002

 
A new version of Mathias Tschopp's fabulous freeware gem MedCalc was released yesterday. Version 4.0 adds 5 formulas (MELD score, PIF ratio, revised trauma score, oxygen transport parameters, interval calculator) along with other minor improvements.
posted by Kent 6:25 PM | |

March 27, 2002

 
The American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) has made available a variety of useful Doc files on its web site. These span a wide range of topics, including OB-Gyn alerts, normal lab values, preventive services guidelines, and more. All of these documents are provided as freeware. Thanks to Daniel Gay, D.O. for bringing these to my attention!
posted by Kent 6:42 PM | |

March 25, 2002

 
Well, it was bound to happen. Economic realities have reared their ugly heads. The Ectopic Brain continues to be very popular. However, this popularity has blown my bandwidth allotment at HyperMart, my free web host. Consequently, I've had to convert the Ectopic Brain to a paid account. On the bright side, you'll notice faster performance and less irritating banner ads. The downside is that I've got to figure out a way to enable the site to pay for itself. Towards this end, I've set up an account on the Amazon Honor System in order to allow visitors to make voluntary contributions towards the cost of maintaining the site. If you've found the Ectopic Brain helpful, please consider making a small donation to help us continue to bring you useful news and links, as well as freeware files and applications. Click the box to the left to contribute today. You can also contribute via the box on the files page. Thanks!
posted by Kent 9:33 PM | |

March 24, 2002

 
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has published another clinical guidelines program, this time for COPD. Based on the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), the Guidelines tool for Palm OS is intended as a point-of-care reference to the Pocket Guide. The NHLBI recommends that clinicians be thoroughly familiar with the full GOLD Executive Summary report before using this reference tool in patient care. Thanks to Andrew Shechtman for bringing this new tool to my attention!
posted by Kent 12:39 PM | |

March 18, 2002

 
Daniel K. Onion's Little Black Book of Primary Care has just been released by Skyscape. Now in its third edition, Dr. Onion's collection of pearls and references includes notes from a variety of sources, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Medical Letter, and many others, in an easy to use format.
posted by Kent 6:12 PM | |

March 17, 2002

 
"So, which handheld computer should I buy?" I wish I had a nickel for every time I've been asked this deceptively complex question. It's often couched in terms of Palm vs. Pocket PC, making it even harder to answer without copping out ("Buy what you like.") or sounding biased ("Buy what I have.") I recently typed out a quick response to this age-old question in PDAMD.com's discussion forum, and it appears to have struck a chord with some users, who have added their own twist to my comments. Since my original intent was to try to give a non-biased answer, I'm reposting my response below, with an added bit on battery life and memory at the end (I should've included that before).

"So, which handheld computer should I buy?"

Basically, it boils down to a few decision points:

1) Cost - How much are you willing/able to spend? Bear in mind that most handhelds have a 1-2 year lifespan, tops.

2) Size - How much are you willing/able to carry around? If you don't have your handheld with you, it won't do you any good. Make sure that you can carry your handheld virtually anywhere you go comfortably. Not everyone wants to wear a belt-clip case.

3) Color/No color - Although this doesn't really help you in the Palm vs. Pocket PC decision, it can narrow down the number of models you're considering. Ask yourself whether you really need color, or if it's just a luxury (Note: I used to dismiss the value of color since most of my medical references are text-only. However, I really like my new Palm m505. Is color necessary? Not really. Is it nice? Definitely.)

4) Software availability - this is really one of the most important points, since your handheld is merely an expensive paperweight if it doesn't do what you bought it to do. The Palm platform definitely has the advantage in terms of the sheer number of applications available, not to mention the large number of excellent freeware programs out there. Pocket PC users have fewer programs to choose from, although most of the major categories of applications are represented. Check sites like the Ectopic Brain and MedicalPocketPC.com to get an idea of what's out there for Palm and PocketPC respectively. The bottom line is, what do you want your handheld computer to do (realistically)?

5) What do your friends/coworkers use? - This isn't a trivial point either, especially if you're new to handhelds. Not that there's anything wrong with being different, but you may find it harder to get help and share files and applications.

6) Do you want to write your own programs? - If so, explore the various options available on both platforms. It's always been far easier to write for the Palm platform, which is one big reason why there's so much more software. Not that it's impossible to write for Pocket PC, but plan on spending more time and money doing it, and having fewer development environments to choose from.

7) Batteries - Many handhelds, particularly color devices, use rechargeable batteries. Others, mostly grayscale Palm OS devices, use replaceable batteries. Battery life in actual use can vary anywhere from a few hours to several days. Make sure the device you choose fits in with your own usage patterns so that you don't find yourself with dead batteries in the middle of your workday. This is especially relevant if your workday sometimes lasts as long as 36 hours, as it sometimes does in medical school, residency, or any other time you take overnight call.

8) Memory - It's difficult to compare Palm OS devices to Pocket PCs based on their built-in memory, since Pocket PCs need more memory than Palm OS devices to accomplish basically the same thing. This has to do with operating system overhead as well as the size of typical applications and files. However, be sure to buy as much memory as you're likely to need, regardless of which platform you settle on. For Palm OS devices, nothing less than 8MB will do, and most users will appreciate the 16MB included in some newer models. Most Pocket PCs include 32-64MB of RAM. Built-in memory is less important than it used to be now that most devices offer memory expansion via removable cards of various types (Compact Flash, Secure Digital, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Springboard, etc.) If you plan to run lots of medical reference software, be sure to pick a device that includes an expansion slot. Some devices, such as the Handspring Visor Edge and the original Compaq iPaq, require a bulky adapter in order to take advantage of expansion cards. A follow-on question might be, "Which expansion card technology should I go with?" This is less important overall than choosing the right device, since most good software will support all of the current expansion card types. However, the cost per megabyte can vary significantly from one card type to another, so do a little comparision shopping before you buy.

Hope this helps!
posted by Kent 10:37 AM | |

March 16, 2002

 
If you do any diabetic management or education, check out GlucoCalc, a little NS BASIC application that estimates HbA1c based on average blood glucose measurement, and vice versa. Sure, you could probably do these calculations in your head...but now you don't have to! As usual, GlucoCalc is freeware, and may be downloaded from the files page.
posted by Kent 9:23 AM | |

March 9, 2002

 
I wish I had this program back when I was an EMT. MobileEMS is a Palm OS-based compendium of reference information for emergency medical personnel, including acronyms, algorithms, anatomical illustrations, EKG rhythms, emergency reference cards, drug information, and medical calculators. Check out the online demo for more information. A subset of MobileEMS called PalmEKG is available for free.
posted by Kent 11:21 PM | |

 
GPnotebook is an internationally recognised medical reference tool which has been continually updated by a team of medics in the U.K. over the past 10 years. They're currently developing a handheld version of their 27,000-page clinical encyclopedia using AvantGo. A prototype channel entitled mobile cardiology is already available for viewing online.
posted by Kent 10:25 PM | |

 
Medical Approaches is a medical textbook for handheld computers developed by Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, a doctor and programmer from Cambridge University in Great Britain. Medical Approaches has been described as "A Medical Text That Heals Itself", in that doctors are invited to download the book for free and make comments, additions and improvements for the next edition, which they are again invited to download. Take a look at this article in Wired News for more information.
posted by Kent 10:15 PM | |

 
There's a new player in the handheld medical reference arena: Compendica.com, founded by Dr. Thomas Lee, former editor-in-chief of ePocrates. This new series of references promises to deliver diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations that are fast, comprehensive, evidence-based, easy-to-use, and reasonably priced. Unlike ePocrates, Compendica.com plans to "make money the old-fashioned way". Their first product, Psychiatry 2002, lists for only $20, but is currently available for a special introductory price of just $10. Additional titles covering other specialty fields are planned. Dr. Lee is also interested in your feedback regarding future products. If you have any ideas, let him know!
posted by Kent 11:57 AM | |

March 4, 2002

 
As expected, Palm announced the new Palm m515 and m130 handhelds today. The m505 is no longer available from the Palm Store, so I'm assuming that it's being discontinued at the same time. Although no official price reduction has been announced, you might want to scour your local retail outlets to see if you can pick up a discontinued m505 cheap!
posted by Kent 1:43 PM | |

March 2, 2002

 
It seems some retailers have jumped the gun and put the new Palm m515 and m130 on the shelves in advance of the official release date. I stopped by my local CompUSA this afternoon, and was able to examine both of them. The m515 is virtually indistinguishable from the m505, save for a noticeably brigher screen (when set to maximum brightness, that is). There's a new brightness control (a little "sun" icon in the upper-right corner of the Graffiti area) that pops up a little dialog that allows you to select from three brightness settings - off, low, or high. The "low" setting resembles the m505 with the backlight on, while the "high" setting is considerably brighter. It's not quite as bright as the Palm IIIc or the Visor Prism, but it's a big improvement. Time will tell what effect the brighter setting will have on battery life. Other changes from the m505 include an extra 8MB of RAM, and Palm OS 4.1. The Palm m130 resembles the m125, with a black-and-blue faceplate instead of the m125's black-and-silver one. The most obvious difference is the color screen. Oddly, the screen seemed to refresh rather slowly, giving menu drops and screen transitions an almost animated quality. Also, there's no brightness control, but there is a contrast slider. I'm not sure how useful this really is, as most people will probably find a contrast setting that they like and just leave it alone after that. As far as prices are concerned, the m515 is retailing for the expected price of $399, while the m130 is $279. Since Palm hasn't officially announced these devices yet, it's odd to see the m515 and m505 side-by-side selling for the exact same price. I suspect we'll see a price reduction on the m505 very shortly (I'm guessing something on the order of $50). The official release date is supposedly Monday the 4th.
posted by Kent 8:03 PM | |

 
Those of you who are using the Tarascon ePharmacopoeia might have noticed that it's no longer available from Medscape. It's now sponsored by MedicaLogic, and may be downloaded (for free) from their site.
posted by Kent 9:48 AM | |

 
Well, after forking over twenty-five bucks for the Sanford Guide and using it for over a month, I've deleted it from my m505 in favor of version 2.0 of the still-free Johns Hopkins Antibiotic Guide. I almost always had trouble finding even the most basic information in the Sanford Guide, whereas it usually only takes a couple of taps to get to what I'm looking for with the Hopkins guide. The Hopkins guide may not be as comprehensive, but it has most of what I need, and other resources are always available for the more esoteric stuff. I also like the expert commentary and evidence-based information that's included in the Hopkins guide. More importantly, the Hopkins guide runs flawlessly from my SD card, freeing up valuable RAM. Technically, the Sanford guide supports the SD card as well, but I found it excessively sluggish and was forced to keep it in RAM in order for it to be usable. Finally, the icing on the cake: the Hopkins guide now features auto-update, just like ePocrates qRx, bringing the promise of the always-current electronic reference book that much closer to reality. The bottom line? Save your money. At this point in time, the Johns Hopkins guide is the best all-around infectious disease reference for the Palm platform.
posted by Kent 8:49 AM | |

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