Chapter 3
Choosing software for yourself

Computers are only as good as the software that runs them, and handhelds are no exception. In fact, one of the key reasons for buying a Palm-compatible or Pocket PC rather than any other handheld is the range of software available. The Chief Executive Officer of Palm likes to refer to the Palm Economy - a bustling cottage industry of thousands of developers, each contributing their own unique solutions for Palm machines. This includes big healthcare companies, which target the Palm and Pocket PC as the most important platforms for doctors.

Once you have gotten over the initial pleasure of all this software, there soon follows confusion over how to deal with it. The rest of this part of the book will look specifically at the best applications for the commonest tasks on the wards. For those who want to get started straight away, there are three principles to bear in mind.

1 - Find a guide you like

In the old days of the internet, two Stanford students made their internet bookmarks available to the rest of the world. They were shocked at how popular this list was. In classic California style, however, they recovered and made a company out of it. Yahoo! remains the number one internet site worldwide. Now, whenever a new area of expertise arises on the internet, it takes very little time for similar bookmarks to arise. These should be your starting points whenever you want to find software.

My favourite is Handango. Apart from looking the most polished, it is also the most user-friendly. In Yahoo! fashion, it provides a hierarchy of good software. It also has numerous reviews written by people who have bought the software. Finally, in other sites, it is quite easy to arrive at a list of over 50 programs, simply because they have not been subclassified. By contrast, Handango's hierarchy is much deeper, and usually avoids this situation.

PDAMD is a much smaller website, but focuses on the needs of doctors. The reviews are by clinicians, and you can subscribe to their e-mail newsletter to keep updated of good software.

If you would like information specific to your own handheld platform, two websites are worthy of an honourable mention: Medical Pocket PC and Ectopic Brain. A small group of doctors who wanted to provide information for the significant minority of Pocket PC users created the former, whereas the latter looks at Palm-compatibles and is a solo effort. Both sites are excellent because of the authors' knowledge about and passion for the technology.

Finally, if you would like to discuss your handheld with other doctors, two recent forums have gained a lot of attention. The first is PDA Consult, which is the British Medical Informatics Society's official website on handhelds, and the second is Doctors Gadgets. Both are free to join and can provide you with hours of entertainment.

Have a look around these sites, and find ones that you are comfortable with.

2 - There's lots of free stuff out there…

Many programmers make their work available for free. It is fun to play with and there is some real quality out there. Even better are the free documents available. Once you have bought document readers or databases, some doctors make incredibly high-quality content freely available to their colleagues. From paediatric calculators to information about common drugs, to the inevitable lists of diseases - if you need it, someone is likely to have provided it for you. You can gradually build up a library of information you need for your speciality. The best thing about this is how easy it is to share it with others - once one doctor has downloaded it, 'corridor encounters' allow beaming to the entire team.

3 - Even the programs that cost money are free to try

Do not buy any programs. At least, not immediately. Most handheld programs have at least a 30-day trial. If you do not like the program at the end of that, just delete it. There is no obligation to pay, and no one will chase you for money. This is part of the reason you rarely find negative reviews of handheld software - not having to part with your money makes the whole thing very amicable.

When you do find software you like, do not give your credit card number to any website that is not secure. In other words, if you are using Netscape, you should have the following locked icon at the bottom of your window...

...and likewise for Internet Explorer.

That's it really. Go out there and find the good work. And don't forget that once you start to make handheld content yourself, you too can share it back with the Palm Economy.

Further information

What would you like to do?