Getting the Data Out
The best constructed, organized and cross-referenced
topic, when loaded into a PDA, is of no use if the user does not know it is
there. This is again an argument for
creating your own unique material using a problem-based approach and taking
ownership of that material. In this way
you are more likely to remember you have the reference when you need it in a
hurry.
There
are several tips to remember to facilitate retrieval of the material:
- Add your own input as
stated above.
- Review the material at
least annually to keep it useful and reliable.
- Delete topics for which
you have no further use. If it is
used enough to be firmly lodged in your brain, you will have no need for
the reference, and it is only in your way when looking for other topics.
- Name your topics to
allow easy first pass recognition.
Remember that they will appear in an alphabetical list. You are more likely to recognize
Proteinuria - Classification than
than Classification of Proteinuria if you are trying to organize
your thinking around proteinuria.
- Consider filing topics
in subfolders such as specialties if you accumulate a large number of
them.
- Consider cross-filing
or filing more than one place. If
your Procedural Sedation topic is filed under Trauma, but contains
pediatric doses, you might wish to file it again under Pediatrics. For the Palm® this might have to be
done by saving the topic twice – each with a different name – so that it
can be put into separate categories.
- Consider including
individual topics as part of a grouping of topics. The topic of Sudden Cardiac Death – ECG Clues might include Brugada Syndrome, Hypertrophic
Cardiomyopathy and Long QT Syndrome, but it
might still be an advantage for you to have each of these three available
on the menu as a separate topic as well.
It doesn’t take a lot more work to do this.
- Associate some clinical
tasks with a quick reference to your PDA.
I still need to remember to consult my PDA prior to Procedural
Sedation or office-based Endometrial Biopsy in order to be completely on
top of the material.
Those
of us who rely heavily on the PDA as an aid to cognitive skills are usually as
lost without this device as we are without glasses. To this end, remembering to charge the device regularly.
Remembering to actually take it to work can be career enhancing.