Clinical PDAs : Handheld Technology, Applications, and Practical Implementation in Healthcare Education

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Clinical PDAs Handheld Technology,
Applications, and Practical Implementation in
Healthcare Education

• Robert B. Trelease, Ph.D.
• Associate Professor and
• Associate Director,
• Instructional Design and Technology Unit Deans
  Office, UCLA School of Medicine

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Handheld Generations I

• Generation 1 The Apple Newton (RIP 1998)
• MessagePad 2000/2100 Specifications
• Size 1.12" x 4.7" x 8.3".
• Weight 22.4 ounces
• Processor/Chip 160 MHz StrongARM SA-110 RISC
• RAM 5MB (2100 has 8 MB)
• ROM 8MB
• Power/Battery 4 AA alkaline batteries (optional
  rechargeable)
• Screen Type transflective backlit LCD, Touch
  Screen Resolution 100 dpi Size 480 by 320
• PCMCIA Slot(s) Two Type II PC Card slots
• Ports Serial, sound I/O

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Handheld Generations II

• Generation 2 Palm (Pilots) and Their Siblings
• Size 0.67 " x 3.17 " x 5.06 " (IIIc)
• Weight 6.8 ounces (IIIc)
• Processor/Chip Motorola 68328(EZ) 16-33 MHz
• RAM 2-8 MB
• ROM 2MB
• Power/Battery 2 AAA alkaline batteries (optional
  rechargeable)
• Screen Type TFT active matrix, Touch Screen
  Resolution 100 dpi Size 160 by 160, grayscale
  or color (to 16 bit)
• Expansion Slot(s) SpringBoard, TRG, m505, CLIE
• Ports Serial/USB and IRdA and speaker

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Handheld Generations III

• Generation 3 WinCE (3.1) Pocket PCs
• Size 0.68" x 3.28" x 5.11" (iPAQ bare)
• Weight 6 ounces
• Processors/Chips 133-206 MHz RISCs
• RAM 16-32 MB
• ROM 16 MB
• Power/Battery rechargeable
• Screen Type TFT active matrix, Touch Screen
  Resolution 100 dpi Size 240 by 320
• Expansion Slot(s) CF, Expansion Pack (iPAQ)
• Ports Serial/USB and IRdA
• Built-in CD-quality stereo (speaker/outputs) and
  microphone

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Serving the King I Palm OS Capabilities

• Text up to 20 characters wide by 16 lines
• Handwriting (Graffiti) entry in silkscreen
  panel at bottom of screen No visual feedback
  and users need to learn special alphabet
• Graphics JPEG and GIF with add-on programs (160 x
  160 pixel limit)
• Sound beeps from speaker, primitive WAV player
  SW, SpringBoard MP3 and recorder modules, no
  built-in input
• Networking with modems, CDPD, ethernet, wireless
  (with SpringBoard)

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Palm OS Capabilities About Syncing and Networking

• PDAs may work as stand-alone devices BUT they are
  dependent on a networked workstation or laptop
  for effective use
• On HotSyncing, changes and additions to PDA
  personal information manager data (date book
  appointments, addresses, memos, mail, and to-do
  list items) are synchronized with those on the
  workstation
• On HotSyncing, programs to be installed are
  transferred from PC to PDA
• On HotSyncing, Web pages from designated sites
  are downloaded through the PC to the PDA
• All these transfers occur automatically with
  little or no attention from the PDA user
• PDAs can be networked directly through cell
  modems (CDPD) or special NICs

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Palm OS Capabilities II About Syncing and
Networking

• Syncing can use
• USB/serial port
• Infrared (IRdA) port
• Network connection (TCP/IP)
• There is NO direct access to files on the PDA
  from the syncing computer!

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Palm OS Capabilities About Files and Programs

• Program (application) files have a .prc (program
  resource) filename extension on host computers or
  servers
• Program data files have a .pdb (program
  database) filename extension on host computers or
  servers
• All .prc and .pdb files are loaded and installed
  on Palm OS devices during synchronization
• If a program allows, data (.pdbs) can be beamed
  from one PDA to another via infrared
• Except for special developers tools, files are
  generally NOT freely uploadable from PalmOS PDAs
  to PCs
• Special filters and programs can be used to
  produce .pdb files for Palm OS (e.g., Word
  PalmDocs filter for producing reader DOC files
• Web servers can be used to distribute .prc and
  .pdb files

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Palm OS Capabilities II Wireless Networking

• cellular modem CDPD
• Wireless ethernet (IEEE 802.11b or WiFi)

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Palm OS Capabilities II Wireless Networking

• Wireless Web connection to remote server (through
  Apple AirPort)

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Serving the King II Useful Resourcesfor Medical
Education

• Personal Information Manager (PIM) utilities
• PDA-dedicated Web sites (e.g., HandHeldMed)
• Programming Environments (CodeWarrior, etc) and
  the PalmOS Simulator (POSE)
• Document Readers (TealDoc, AportisDoc, iSilo,
  MobiPocket, HandHeldMed Reader, Acrobat!)
• Database managers (Jfile, HanDBase)
• Web (Clipping) browsers (e.g. AvantGo)
• Patient records (PatientTracker, PatientKeeper, 5
  Minute Clinical Consult)
• Pharmacopeiae (ePocrates qRx, Tarrascon, PDR)
• Decision Support (e.g. MedRules)
• Reference Books (e.g. Harrisons)

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PDA Resources on the Web

• General PDA sites
• PDAstreet www.pdastreet.com
• PalmOS home www.palmos.com
• MS Pocket PC home www.pocketpc.com
• Useful commercial PDA sales sites
• Handango www.handango.com
• MobilePlanet www.mobileplanet.com
• Medical PDA sites
• HandheldMed www.handheldmed.com
• pdaMD www.pdamd.com

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PDA Resources on the Web HandHeldMed
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PDA Resources on the Web pdaMD
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PDA Resources on the Web PDAStreet
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Serving the King II Useful Resourcesfor Medical
Education Doc Readers
Document Readers (use DOC PDB files) TealDoc,
AportisDoc, iSilo, MobiPocket, HandHeldMed Reader
Document can be prepared with standard programs
(e.g., Word) and converted to PDBs (e.g., with a
Word filter or MakeDocW.exe)
DOCs can contain internal links and indexing
Some DOC readers multifunction (e.g., iSILO
handling HTML) DOC PDBs can be downloaded from
Web sites for loading at synchronization
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Serving the King II Useful Resourcesfor Medical
Education - Adobe Acrobat
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Serving the King II Useful Resourcesfor Medical
Education - AvantGo
What is it? Client- and server-side software for
downloading and clipping content from Web
servers AND interacting with online databases
through Web Uis. AvantGo can be used with
PalmOS, Pocket PCs, and RIM Blackberry 2-way
wireless email pager devices Whats on the
Client side? A streamlined, graphics-capable PDA
Web browser (offline AND online) and workstation
sync software (Channels Manager) that downloads
Web pages filtered by the AvantGo Server Whats
on the Server side? A modified Apache Web server
that maintains a database of user- selected URLs
and delivers this selected content to Clients at
synchronization
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Serving the King II Useful Resourcesfor Medical
Education - AvantGo
How do I get AvantGo? The free (public) Client
software is downloadable from www.avantgo.com.
Some PDAs ship with it. Commercial
(Enterprise) Server and Client software can be
purchased from AvantGo Whats kind of content can
the public AvantGoClient deliver? Basic text and
graphics Web pages, including tables and menus,
but NO FRAMES standard HTML, ASP, and Cold
Fusion pages What else is included in the
Enterprise AvantGo client? ECMA 2 compatible
Javascript capability (ECMA 3 coming), registered
SSL key, ability to deliver PDB and PRC files,
XML compatibility in next release
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Serving the King II Useful Resourcesfor Medical
Education - AvantGo
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Comparison of Palm OS PDAs
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PC WinCE,
Sound and Vision

• Weight 6 ounces
• Processors/Chip 133-206 MHz RISC
• RAM 16-64 (!) MB
• ROM 16 MB
• Screen Type TFT active matrix, Touch Screen
  Resolution 100 dpi Size 240 by 320
• Expansion Slot(s) CF, Expansion Pack (iPAQ)
• Ports Serial/USB and IRdA
• Built-in CD-quality stereo (speaker/outputs) and
  microphone

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The Next Generation of Multimedia PC Comparing
the Basics I
Built-in Pocket Office Programs
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PC Comparing
the Basics II
More font choices and real estate for eBooks
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PC Comparing
the Basics III
Entering Notes (Memos) with Keyboard
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PC Comparing
the Basics IV
Calendar/Datebook
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PC Comparing
the Basics IV
Handwriting Recognition Instead of Grafitti
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PCBeyond the
Palm OS Basics
Pocket Internet Explorer
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PCBeyond the
Palm OS Basics
Pocket Internet Explorer Exported Powerpoint
lecture slides
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PCBeyond the
Palm OS Basics
Sound and Vision MP3, WAV, WMA, ASF, MPEG4
formats supported
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The Next Generation of Multimedia PCBeyond the
Palm OS Basics
Convenient High-Speed Networking
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Why WinCE Useful Resourcesfor Medical Education

• Personal Information Manager (PIM) utilities
• Programming Environments (Visual Studio, etc)
• Document Readers (MobiPocket, HandHeldMed Reader,
  Microsoft Reader)
• Database managers (EXCEL, ADOCE)
• Web (Clipping) browsers IE and AvantGo
• Patient records (PatientTracker)
• Pharmacopeiae (PDR)
• Decision Support (e.g. 5 Minute Clinical Consult)
• Reference Books (e.g. Harrisons)

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Useful Resources for Medical Education AvantGo
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Pocket PC Models
ltCompaq iPAQ 3650 200 MHz StrongARM CPU
HP Jornada 548 gt 133 MHz Hitachi SH-3 CPU
Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 gt 150 MHz NEC/MIPS VR
4122 CPU
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What Next?

• Pocket PCs push Palm OS PDA manufacturers to
  enhance device capabilities
• Increasing power and capability of handheld
  devices
• Convergence of Phone, Page, and PIM technologies
• Wearable computer technology evolves
• Enhanced display technologies (e.g., ocular
  displays)
• More flexible high-speed networking

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Thanks for Your Interest!