PK- Track patients on the Palm- and throw out the index card
Written: May 05 '00 (Updated May 05 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great for tracking lab tests; can beam patients to others; makes anyone an organized doctor :)
Cons: new version 2.3 allegedly very buggy; customer service purported to be subpar; should highlight abnormal labs
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| drdavec1's Full Review: PatientKeeper |
For years, doctors have relied on index cards to write down information on their patients- everything from HPI to lab and test results. Patient Keeper is an ambitious step towards replacing the index card system. It definitely expedites patient tracking and can make even the most disorganized doctor into an organized one. PK is an application for the Palm OS and is availible at www.patientkeeper.com.
WHO IS IT FOR?
PK is ideal for medical residents, medical students, and MDs with a hefty inpatient load...
INSTALLATION
Very easy...just download the application and you are ready to go. The program is large- about 375 KB. However, it does a variety of tasks well and justifies its large size... I recommend making a shortcut to this program (either by using a hack such as Teal Launch or FastApp or assigning the Calculator button in Prefs to PK) This way you can get the data quick and enter in quick... In medicine, time is of the essence, especially in residency
USES
The Main screen has a list of your patients, and many small icons that represent the different functions on this program. You can be very ambitious and write everything about patients in the program.. including H&P, SOAP notes, and all lab tests.
H&P
I will say that it is very difficult to write a whole H&P in this program. For starters, we all know that it can be difficult writing a lot of information into the Palm. I think if you are a super power user who uses a keyboard, then perhaps you could write a history and physical no problem. However, the problem with this is that if you are the person who has to write a H&P for the chart, then you wouldn't want to rewrite it into your Palm. Not many resident I know have hours to sit in front of their Palm and write away. This simply is not efficient. You can theoretically print data using Palm Print, but a)you have to own Palm, Print and b)I don't know medicolegally if this is sufficient for the chart- I wouldn't want to do it!
ROS
This is pretty good...for each system there are many items listed where you just tap the item to say yes or no for the symptom...There is no summary screen where it can just take all of the pertinent positives and put them on one page. Again, this is something you probably did on the chart and not 100% necessary to do again.
MEDS
This is nice on the Palm, as PK has a nice database of drugs. Many drugs are in it with their standard dose so you don't have to write the entire name of the drug. It would be nice if this could be incorporated with a program like Epocrates, but I guess that is too ambitious (and the companies are not affiliated...)
PMH/PSH
Easy to enter, with icons representing the most common for each (example- PMH lists HTN, CAD, CVA, COPD, DM, MI, and CA)
Lab Tests-
This is how I would recommend using PK- to track daily laboratory data. On the main screen are icons for: CBC, SMA-7, Pt/PTT, cardiac enzymes, ABG, Micro, Urine, Misc, and Radiology. In each of these pages are forms where you can either write in the lab data or use a keypad that is on the sceen. You can view these tests where it will show you all of the CBCs on a page (so you could track a WBC count for example). There is also a view that incorporates your data into skeletons. Oh yeah, there is a place for daily vitals as well...
NICE FEATURES
-When you enter in lab data, if you leave something blank (because the test is pending), it will mark the results as pending. There is also a button with a to do list which puts all of your pending items on there so you don't forget to follow up something
-For Radiology, you can draw the film on the Palm if ou want!
-If you are a resident, you can beam a patient to other resident! For example, if you are on call, you can beam sign outs (there is even a spot to mark that the patient is someone you are covering)
-The daiy summary view is great- it lists the CBC, SMA, and vitals on one screen
-If you have Palm Print, you cna print out patient data (my friend did it and said although it didn't look pretty it works on printers with IR)
WHAT IT SHOULD DO
The program should have a way to recognize abnormal lab tests and put them in bold face. This way, you could easily hone in on the tests you need to keep an eye on...
CONCERNS
PK just came out with a new version 2.3, which is compatible with OS 3.5 (version 2.215 was not compatible with OS 3.5.) There are many reports that this version is buggy. Even more alarming is that the makers have been slow and unresponsive to these with technical support concerns (you should look at the message board on their site). The company has just been acquired by a new company Virtumed. It is unclear what effect this will have on Patient Keeper product.
Also, if for some reason you have do a hard reset during the day or your batteries die, guess what, you lose all of the info!!! THis could be problematic, so I must warn you all to be careful!
VERDICT
Overall, a patient keeper is a keeper. Sure the prodcut has flaws. Some of the features, though nice are not practical to use (such as the H&P). Their technical support is shaky... However, there is no comparable product for the Palm. Just for tracking lab tests I would use the program. Also, it is nice when many residents have this program and you can beam patients to one another... It is a little pricey ($35) but its a good thing residents are so well paid that they can afford this :) Seriously though, I know that bottom line is this will simplify your life
Recommended:
Yes
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drdavec1
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Member: dave
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 44
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