Friday, October 1, 2010

is technology helpful in medication-use process?



In our generation today, technology is one of the very used inventions.  Using technology made our life easier. It gives us ways that can help us to improve our activities in daily living and not only in our day to day activities but also technology improves the work of many establishments, community, organizations and facilities. Like for example in a hospital or health care facility, with the use of technology many diseases or problems are now having accurate results in their respective diagnostic exam because of the advance technology.  But now, not only the diagnostic machines was transformed by technology, but also the outpatient setting records, health prescription, medication administration, orders, patients record, medication management, and dosage calculations of medications. Because of technology, the discrepancies and errors made when we are still using the old system were reduced. By using the technology-based systems and records in hospitals and health care facilities, the facility have improve their workflow and provide a new source of data for continuous quality improvement. It also improves patient care and minimizes human memory created records.  It also improves the administration of medications. Because of this, we had already decreased the risk for death because of the wrong interpretation of hand writing in the patients chart. It is easy for the medical team to render their services because they have already an improve system which gives them a guide for every patient conditions. They will no longer use their brains and hands in calculating medications, IV fluids and others because the computer system will do it for them. It will reduce the risk of errors because the right formula for the calculation is had already been programmed in the system. That’s why technology in medication use-process is an advantage in our world today.


Friday, September 24, 2010

A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a palmtop computer, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet. A PDA has an electronic visual display, enabling it to include a web browser, but some newer models also have audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones or portable media players. Many PDAs can access the Internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi or Wireless Wide Area Networks. Many PDAs employ touchscreen technology.
The term PDA was first used on January 7, 1992 by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton. In 1996, Nokia introduced the first mobile phone with full PDA functionality, the 9000 Communicator, which grew to become the world's best-selling PDA. The Communicator spawned a new category of mobile phones: the smartphone. Today, the vast majority of all PDAs are smartphones. Over 150 million smartphones are sold each year, while "stand-alone" PDAs without phone functionality sell only about 3 million units per year.Popular smartphone brands include HTC, Apple, Palm, Nokia N-Series, and RIM BlackBerry.



Typical features

A typical PDA has a touchscreen for entering data, a memory card slot for data storage, and IrDA, Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi. However, some PDAs may not have a touch screen, using softkeys, a directional pad, and a numeric keypad or a thumb keyboard for input; this is typically seen on telephones that are incidentally PDAs.
In order to have the functions expected of a PDA, a device's software typically includes an appointment calendar, a to-do list, an address book for contacts, and some sort of memo (or "note") program. PDAs with wireless data connections also typically include an email client and a Web browser.


Types of PDAs


Traditional PDAs

Today's traditional PDAs are descendents of the original PalmPilot and Microsoft Handheld PC devices. Palm devices run the Palm OS (operating system), and Microsoft Pocket PCs run Windows Mobile. The differences between the two systems are fewer than in the past.

Palm PDAs
Most Palm devices are made by palmOne, which offers the Zire and Tungsten product lines. The company formed in 2003 when Palm Computing acquired Handspring, Inc. Sony, which produced the Palm-based CLIE, stopped producing PDAs in 2005.
palmOne Tungsten T5 Handheld
Known for their ease of use, Palm OS PDAs have:
  • A vast library of third-party applications (more than 20,000) that you can add to the system (most devices come bundled with e-mail, productivity and multimedia software)
  • An updated version of the Graffiti handwriting-recognition application
  • Synchronization with both Windows and Macintosh computers using the Palm Desktop
  • Smaller displays than Pocket PCs to accommodate a dedicated Graffiti area on the device (Some higher-end Palm devices now incorporate a virtual Graffiti area in the display, resulting in a larger display area.)
Pocket PCs

Pocket PC is the generic name for Windows Mobile PDAs. Their standard features include:

  • Pocket versions of Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook (note that some formatting is lost between Pocket and standard versions of documents)
  • Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook on a Windows PC (synchronization with e-mail systems other than Outlook or with Macintosh computers requires additional software)
  • Three handwriting-recognition applications: Transcriber, Letter Recognizer (similar to the new version of Graffiti), and Block Recognizer (similar to the original Graffiti)
  • A virtual writing area, which maximizes the display size
  • Windows Media Player for multimedia content
Smartphones

palmOne Treo 650 Handheld
palmOne Treo 650 Handheld
A smartphone is either a cell phone with PDA capabilities or a traditional PDA with added cell phone capabilities, depending on the form factor (style) and manufacturer. Characteristics of these devices include:
  • A cellular service provider to handle phone service (As with cell phones, you typically purchase a cellular plan and smart phone from the service provider.)
  • Internet access through cellular data networks
  • Various combinations of cell phone and PDA features, depending on the device (for example, not all smart phones offer handwriting-recognition capabilities)
  • A number of different operating systems, including Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, the Palm OS, the Blackberry OS for Blackberry smart phones, and the Symbian OS for smart phones from Panasonic, Nokia, Samsung and others.


Related devices include ultraportable computers,
smart watches and multimedia players. Ultraportable computers range in weight from less than a pound to about three pounds, come with a full desktop operating system (such as Windows XP), and include a small keyboard. Smart watches offer some PDA functions in a wristwatch form factor. Microsoft's SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology)-based watches, for example, can receive MSN Direct information such as weather and news. They can also receive calendar information and personal messages. Some multimedia players can combine the functions of a PDA with multimedia features, such as a digital camera, an MP3 player and a video player.

USES?

Medical and scientific uses

Many companies have developed PDA products aimed at the medical professions' unique needs, such as drug databases, treatment information, and medical news. Services such as AvantGo translate medical journals into PDA-readable formats. WardWatch organizes medical records, providing reminders of information such as the treatment regimens of patients and programs to doctors making ward rounds. Pendragon and Syware provide tools for conducting research with PDAs, allowing the user to enter data into a centralized database using their PDA. Microsoft Visual Studio and Sun Java also provide programming tools for developing survey instruments on the handheld. These development tools allow for integration with SQL databases that are stored on the handheld and can be synchronized with a desktop- or server-based database.

PDAs have been shown to aid diagnosis and drug selection and some studies have concluded that when patients use PDAs to record their symptoms, they communicate more effectively with hospitals during follow-up visits.
The development of Sensor Web technology may lead to wearable bodily sensors to monitor ongoing conditions, like diabetes or epilepsy, which would alert patients and doctors when treatment is required using wireless communication and PDAs.


Educational uses

As mobile technology becomes more common, it is increasingly being used as a learning tool. Some educational institutions have embraced M-Learning, integrating PDAs into their teaching practices.

PDAs and handheld devices are allowed in many classrooms for digital note-taking. Students can spell-check, modify, and amend their class notes on the PDA. Some educators distribute course material through the Internet or infrared file-sharing functions of the PDA. Textbook publishers have begun to release e-books, or electronic textbooks, which can be uploaded directly to a PDA, reducing the number of textbooks students must carry.

Software companies have developed PDA programs to meet the instructional needs of educational institutions, such as dictionaries, thesauri, word processing software, encyclopedias, and digital lesson planners.


Recreational uses

PDAs may be used by music enthusiasts to play a variety of music file formats. Many PDAs include the functionality of an MP3 player.

Road rally enthusiasts can use PDAs to calculate distance, speed, and time. This information may be used for navigation, or the PDA's GPS functions can be used for navigation.
Underwater divers can use PDAs to plan breathing gas mixtures and decompression schedules using software such as "V-Planner."





Popular consumer PDAs