Abstract
Purpose: Few studies have been published regarding the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) as a medical reference by physician assistants (PAs) and PA students in family practice. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the utilization of medical programs that can be referenced on PDAs by PAs and students in the state of Utah. Methods: An e-mail survey was sent to a non-randomized group of the 32 second-year PA students and a randomized group of 40 certified PAs. We measured the percentage of students and PAs consulting medical PDA programs, the specific program(s) used by each group, the frequency of consultation, and the overall value of PDAs as perceived by the users. Specific medical programs are those that acted as clinical reference tools, allowing the PA (or student) to improve patient care. The medical program category was broken down into three areas: drug reference, clinical reference, and calculator programs. Results: Sixty-eight percent of students and 70% of PAs responded. All students and 79% of PA respondents used a PDA daily for patient care. The drug referencing programs were by far the most popular. EPocrates was the most common program. Clinical reference programs and medical calculators were more popular; both were used with greater frequency by the students. Griffith's Five Minute Clinical Consult (5MCC) was the most popular clinical reference program and MedCalc the most popular medical calculator. Students also placed a greater value on the PDA medical programs, although the difference relative to practicing PAs was not statistically significant (p>.05). Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that the programs in each of the three program classes—drug reference, clinical reference, and medical calculator— were highly popular. The student group used the drug reference programs more frequently. Clinical reference programs were more popular with the students, who used them more frequently, but not daily. Both groups felt that, unlike the drug programs, the clinical and calculator programs did not require daily use. Students perceived the programs to be of more value in regards to improving patient care.
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