In the Palm of Your Hand – Normalizing the Use of Mobile Technology for Nurse Practitioner Education and Clinical Practice

Nurses' Perceptions of Using Personal Digital Assistants in Tertiary Hospitals

“…5 There have been numerous studies on the use of PDAs by nursing students in classrooms and clinical practice. 2,3 Nursing students used PDAs to search for information such as drug reference information, clinical guidelines, laboratory standards, and medical dictionaries. They also used PDAs to calculate a dose, a body mass index, and risks related to diseases such as cardiac risk calculation.…”

“…They also used PDAs to calculate a dose, a body mass index, and risks related to diseases such as cardiac risk calculation. 2,3 Nursing students generally reported their positive experiences with using PDAs. 3 Other previous studies examined the use of PDAs by nurses at the point of care.…”

“…The purpose of using PDAs by nurses was similar to that of students. 2,[8][9][10] Nurses reported the advantages and risks associated with using PDAs. A small number of studies examined using PDAs for purposes other than the above.…”

“…A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a handheld device that is capable of accessing the Internet 1 . Personal digital assistants can perform multiple functions such as searching for drug interactions, laboratory values, and clinical guidelines on the Internet; calculating drug doses; scanning barcodes; sending and receiving patient data and images; and implementing point-of-care documentation 2,3 . Thus, the clinical benefits of using PDAs include increasing evidence-based practice, decreasing medication errors, and guiding nurses' clinical decision-making by making relevant information available at the point of care, as well as saving nurses' time by enabling electronic patient charting and decreasing the time that it takes nurses to research necessary information 3,4 .…”

“…Nursing students used PDAs to search for information such as drug reference information, clinical guidelines, laboratory standards, and medical dictionaries. They also used PDAs to calculate a dose, a body mass index, and risks related to diseases such as cardiac risk calculation 2,3 . Nursing students generally reported their positive experiences with using PDAs 3 .…”