Personal Digital Assistants PDAs Information at Your Fingertips

Personal Digital Assistants PDAs Information at Your Fingertips, or a Handful of Trouble? Peter Morgan Cambridge University Medical Library Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 1

Outline • • • PDA technology healthcare applications library and information services barriers what’s next? Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 2

PDAs • • • PDA = Personal Digital Assistant also known as… palm-top/palm-held/palm-based computer handheld computer pocket computer personal organizer Me. SH = “computers, handheld” Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 3

PDAs Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 4

PDA technology - history • 1984: Psion 1 personal organiser released • 1992: Apple’s John Sculley coins term “Personal Digital Assistant” • 1993: First PDA, called “Penpad”, released by Amstrad • 1993: Apple introduces Newton Message. Pad • 1996: Palm releases Palm Pilot, using Palm OS • 1996: Microsoft releases Windows CE OS • 2000: Microsoft releases Pocket PC OS replacing Windows CE Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 5

PDA technology - operating systems Two major players • Palm OS • Microsoft Pocket PC Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 6

PDA technology - operating systems Palm: • • • cheaper lighter, slimmer easier to use simpler OS requires less processor power faster longer battery life (especially mono display) aimed at individual consumer dominates PDA world market big choice of software Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 7

PDA technology - operating systems Pocket PC: • • Windows-type applications more powerful more memory more functionality better security full-colour display aimed at corporate users increasing market share (especially in Europe) Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 8

PDA technology - extras • • • synchronization cradles beaming folding keyboards memory cards wireless Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 9

PDA technology - basic uses • personal organizer – appointments, addresses, memos, alerts, etc. • internet access • • – email, WWW, databases, etc. office software multimedia data capture and transmission phone Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 10

Healthcare applications • education – medical, nursing, allied health professionals • clinical practice & research – – – physicians nurses allied health professionals patients administrators Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 11

Healthcare applications - education • • • PDAs compulsory in some medical schools synchronised timetable information optimal time management assessment of students’ experience capture of lecture notes exchange of information Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 12

Healthcare applications - clinical practice & research • point-of-care information – – – patient records & patient tracking clinical practice guidelines drug information literature retrieval clinical librarian • data capture & transfer • fieldwork support (GPS etc. ) • patients’ use Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 13

PDAs and the library • • • training users ongoing user support advice on what to buy provision of content co-ordination & advocacy library uses Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 14

PDAs and the library - training users • workshops – emulators • • instructions (documents & web pages) help desk technical advice security advice Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 15

PDAs and the library - ongoing user support • user groups – subject-based, experience-based • discussion lists – in-house, open • library help-desk • web pages Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 16

PDAs and the library - advice on what to buy • • • hardware & software samples links to computer journals links to PDA websites vendors’ fairs exchange of experience among users Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 17

PDAs and the library - provision of content • commercial – – e-books (textbooks, reference books) e-journals databases drug pharmacopoeias – – “what’s new? ” - products & services current awareness & bibliographies PDA instructional material library orientation & guidelines • locally-produced Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 18

PDAs and the library - co-ordination & advocacy • • • demonstrations testbed institutional infrastructure shared buying advice & purchase clearinghouse being a PDA champion Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 19

PDAs and the library - library uses • personal organizers for library staff • library staff management – duty rotas, priority tasks, news, • reference work • email access • data capture of library statistics Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 20

Barriers • technophobia • safety in numbers • error-prone text/data entry – handwriting recognition not reliable – stylus/keyboard awkward to use • security of equipment & data • lack of evidence-based PDA evaluation Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 21

What’s next? • • • falling sales, but… Pocket PC catching up - more programs student use of PDAs extends into career increased wireless network connectivity shift from personal to corporate new phone/PDA generation Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 22

Further help. . . • library websites – – – Alberta: http: //www. library. ualberta. ca/pdazone/index. cfm Arizona: http: //educ. ahsl. arizona. edu/pda/index. htm Illinois libraries: http: //pdagrant. osfsaintfrancis. org/ Leicester: http: //www. le. ac. uk/li/lgh/library. htm Oulu: http: //kirjasto. oulu. fi/english/palvelut/mobileservices/ • M. Al-Ubaydli: “Handheld Computers for Doctors” (Chichester: Wiley, 2003. ISBN 0 470 85899 0) plus related website - http: //www. handheldsfordoctors. com/ Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 23

Contact Peter Morgan Librarian Cambridge University Medical Library Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB 2 2 SP, England +44 (0)1223 336757 pbm 2@cam. ac. uk Nordic-Baltic-EAHIL Workshop Oslo, 28 June 2003 PDAs - Peter Morgan 24