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Maximize your handheld computer by picking programs that fit you best.
The explosion of medical software for personal digital assistants (PDAs) makes it critical to accurately evaluate the programs that are out there. If you're going to invest in software, you want to know which programs are the most practical, applicable and useful for your practice. It is frustrating to buy a program and then never use it because you have trouble trusting or retrieving the information.
This article provides an approach to critically evaluate PDA medical applications in order to get the most value for your hard-earned dollar.
Step one: Evaluate the content
To determine whether an application may be right for your practice, first evaluate its content. Ask yourself, "Can I really trust the information in this software program?" Just as you evaluate a journal article,1 look to see if the PDA program's content is accurate, verifiable and up-to-date. If the content is not valid, the usefulness of the software program must be questioned.
The more familiar you are with the software, the more easily you can judge its content. Therefore, PDA software based on a familiar textbook or resource that you value adds content validity even before you evaluate it. Other PDA programs should be scrutinized more carefully for accuracy. If possible, you should compare them to a similar but more familiar product. For example, if you were looking for an infectious disease guide for your PDA, you probably would search for a...