This document provides resources for using PDAs in medical education, including further reading materials and websites. It summarizes a software called DatePak that allows doctors to share calendars and avoid missing teaching sessions due to scheduling conflicts. It also summarizes RepliGo software that helps doctors view PDF documents on handheld devices, addressing problems with viewing National Service Frameworks documents. Contact information is provided for additional questions.

1. PDAs in Medical Education – 2004 February 10. Handout, page 1 of 1
Further reading
• Project Palm report at www.caret.cam.ac.uk/pdfs_ppts/projectpalm.pdf.
• Satellite Forms www.pumatech.com/sf_mad_main.html.
• AvantGo www.avantgo.com.
• “Handheld computers for doctors” by Mohammad Al-Ubaydli. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2003.
The web site contains some free chapters and lots of new content. www.handheldsfordoctors.com/book
• Wireless browsing on handheld computers, including articles on intranet design, web browsers, and PubMed
software www.handheldsfordoctors.com/learn/wireless.htm.
• DatePak allows you to share calendars with the rest of your students. It is a simple idea, but it solves a big
problem well. When junior doctors join a hospital, they are inundated with leaflets about teaching sessions.
They are also advised to constantly check several locations where new information about teaching sessions
will be announced. Of course, doctors have a busy schedule, and they are not expected to be able to attend
every session. But with such an intensive training, it is a real shame to miss sessions through not being aware
of the schedule. DatePak helps avoid this.
http://www.handheldsfordoctors.com/learn/organisation/datepak.htm
• RepliGo is software that should be on every clinician's handheld but it is a little tricky to understand its
significance at first. UK doctors trying to follow the National Service Frameworks (NSF) have two problems
with their handheld computers. First, the NSF authors love to produce their documents in Adobe Reader
format, known as PDF. Second, the Acrobat Reader program on handheld computers is awful. Cerience
Corporation's RepliGo is the saviour. Adobe's programmers and the NSF's IT department would do well to
learn from Cerience. Until they do, however, you can make use of RepliGo.
http://www.handheldsfordoctors.com/learn/ebooks/repligo.htm
Contact details
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, me@mo.md