Guest DancingDoc Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 hey, Do any of you use these in med school instead of a normal cell phone? I'm trying to figure out if it would be more convenient and efficient to keep up on my schedule and check my emails, but not have to carry around a day planner on top of everything else or run to the nearest computer if I need my email for whatever (or to check the forums.... not that I do that often:rolleyes ). How are the phone and internet deals on them anyway (specifically for Toronto)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 At UWO very, very few people have blackberries... I don't know of anyone in my class with one... although there are definitely a few faculty seen with them. I think the number one reason is $$$$... do you really need to spend the extra money to be able to check your email rather than walk down the hall and check it in the computer lab? The other issue: most of us have PDA's already...which people use to keep track of schedules and to run various medical reference software, so having a blackberry too is just not appealing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blinknoodle Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I guess it depends what is important to you. I don't know anyone with a Blackberry in my class either, although many of my classmates got PDAs during second year and put medical software on it. I am not sure if Blackberries have the wide assortment of medical software, for it to double in that regard. If your school/hospital has wifi, you can easily check your email on your PDA (provided it has wifi capabilities). I also sync my PDA in the morning and reply to emails during the day and send them when I sync at home at the end of the day, or use wifi at school. A Blackberry would be useful since you could sync anywhere, without wifi, but that comes at a price - $30-50/month on top of the voice plan if you plan on using it as a cellphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Hi there, I had a Blackberry a few years prior to starting medical school (provided by the company I worked for). I took it to school and was able to access e-mails during lectures, etc., and I can attest, they well earned their "crackberry" name. The bloody things can get a bit addictive given the e-mail function. I agree re: the above--there seem to be plenty of staff who carry them around (one surgeon I know brings his into the OR, despite the no cellphone policy), but given the restriction re: useful medical software available for them, I don't know how useful they'd be. If you're planning on carrying a cellphone along with a PDA, an alternative might be a PDA/phone hybrid such as Treo or something similar. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DancingDoc Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 thanks for the responses guys! I didn't know much about them so good to know, and Kirsteen I'll have to look into the Treo... I've never heard of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ollie Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Hey, Our class (UofT) did a group order of Palms that we need for clerkship. About 1/3 of the class went with the Palm Treo (phone/PDA) and 2/3 went with the Palm TX. We got a deal worked out with Bell for the Treos, and I think it was a really good deal for both price for the Treo and the voice/data plan. There's pros and cons for the Treo versus the regular palm. I got the regular palm and it has wireless internet, which is pretty handy, since most of campus (including the lecture halls) have wireless access. The hospitals do not have wireless, but supposedly there will be Toronto-wide wireless internet available later this year that will be free for the first 6 months (then you have to subscribe). The advantage of the Treo is being able to check your email whereever you want, but you do have to pay for it. And like other people said, the Blackberry doesn't run most (any?) medical software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest muchdutch Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I have a Treo 650 (I'm not in med school). It is fantastic! I came to a point where I needed to upgrade my palm and I needed to upgrade my cell phone at the same time, so rather than spending 300-500 on a palm and 100 on a cell phone, I just got a Treo (I paid less than 300 at the time - over a year ago). I love, love, LOVE it. It has all of my regular palm stuff (contacts, birthdays, calendar, schedule, daytimer, alarms, etc.) as well as acting as my phone. There are also a bunch of applications that I downloaded (there are TONNES - more than you could ever need, want, or use) that I especially like such as Homework which keeps track of my classes, assignments, readings, etc., Profile MD which keeps my family medical history, my SO's history and his family's history, and my medical stats (BP, weight, height, HR; and it can graph this over time as well - my own medical history is quite convoluted and extensive so I figured it would be a good idea as a reference for myself). All of the applications I have downloaded so far have been free and they're great - imagine what you could find if you paid for it! I know for a fact that there are a lot of medical dictionaries and references out there for palm as well - some free, some not. But I'm sure anything that you need as far as reference books in print you could find as data for palm. I couldn't live without it and think it's great for anybody with a busy lifestyle (three jobs, extended family, volunteer comittments, etc.) or if you just want ot get everything in your life on track. While a palm can do all of this too, if you choose that route you're stuck carrying around an extra device which can be a pain. The only thing I can't comment on is the email/internet function. I don't feel the need to use it because I'm usually pretty close to a computer most of the time anyway, but I'm sure it doesn't work much different than the blackberry does. I always joke to people who ask me that if I ever got robbed, I would gladly fork over all of my cash, credit cards, etc., but if they took my Treo, I would flip out an inflict some serious damage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Snew Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Hey Dancing Doc, As I recall, you said you were from NB. A friend of mine who just finished Med I at Dal told me that the government of NB gives its residents that are going through medical school Palm Pilots in their second year of med. I am not absolutely positive about this, but I would check it out before spending money on a Blackberry for Toronto this fall. Perhaps other NB medical students can confirm. Congrats on getting in to U of T! Snew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DancingDoc Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Thanks Snew wow, that would be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DancingDoc Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 Does anyone know if you can disable the phone function on the Treo so you can still use the software, etc when in the hospital? And does anyone know if NB does give a PDA to its med students, and does this count if you do not go to MUN or Dal? (i.e. I'm going to Toronto) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest quebecboy Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 NB students here at Sherbrooke all get brand new lifedrive palms and the government also pays for their stethoscopes and such... Quebecboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest konverse Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 hey y'all i'm thinking about getting one of those "smart phones" as they call it when school starts... i like to be digitally organized and the all-in-one feature makes them convenient, and not to mention fun to use!! i've done a lot of research so far, and altho i like the new blackberry 8700r, it doesn't support many 3rd party progs, whereas i gather there are many available for PALM, and hence the Treo 650 seems like a pretty good choice! but then yesterday i was in the telus store and they told me that the Motorola Q just came out!! and i had a look and played around -- looks awesome! super thin, all the "standard" features, and it uses the Windows OS. seems really tempting but this is where i ask... would anyone have any idea in terms of "medical" programs that would be available for the windows OS <motorola> vs. the palm? i know everyone will say there is really "no need" for these devices "until" 3rd year, but i'm getting one now, mostly because they do have other uses than just for med!! but having said that... i'd like to use a device that i could grow with and have it be very useful when indeed the curriculum requires it! thank you very much for any feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sunE Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 There are lots of "medical" based programs for the Windows Mobile 5.0 OS. You just have to do a search for them. There are tons of medical dictionaries and prescription programs for dosage amounts, etc. But I should let you know that Telus has a policy on these Data device phones (including the Motorola Q). Any Data Device purchased from Telus must include a data plan which you must add on to your voice plan. So in addition to the amount you are already paying on your voice plan, you have to purchase a data plan. The cheapest one is an extra $25/month for 4MB of data per month. That's extremely small. Basically all you can do is check e-mail with no attachments. Also there are some other extra charges like a $60/year network fee, etc, etc, etc. That's a pretty big price a medical student must pay every month for the simplicity of having a combined cellphone and pda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest muchdutch Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 dancingdoc - yes, you can turn the phone part of the treo off and still use the rest of the palm functions. konverse - sounds like you're doing your research and that's great. I would be careful when going with a new product however. Although motorola has strong cell phones etc., is this not their first pda? Not that it won't be good, it's just better to wait until all of the bugs are worked out. I chose the treo because I knew palm has had generations of devices to work out the bugs, and I chose the 650 because i talked to a guy who had a 600 and said he had a few minor problems but that they seemed to be remedied with the 650 he played with. Then again, motorola could be taking a lesson from other pda's and get it bang-on the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DancingDoc Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 For the Treo, can anyone comment on the 650 versus the 700w (one runs palm os; the other runs palm pc). My laptop is a pc, if I had the treo 650 (i.e. palm os) are they still compatible ( at least as much as any mac file would be with a pc..... I'm not that computer savvy so sorry if this is a dumb question!!! lol). Because the 700w (i.e. using pc windos) appears to be a first thing and the palm os has had the time to work out the bugs so I'd rather do the palm os as long as I can use pc files on it..... help anyone? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 Palm is certainly compatible with Windows. I'll also point out that the Pocket PC / Windows Mobile operating system is not at all new, and also has had plenty of time to work out bugs. There are lots of smartphones running it, and many of them are great. I love my Axim x50v (pocket pc)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sunE Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 I think what Dancing Doc was saying is that it's Palm's first attempt at using Windows Mobile on a Palm device. So he wasn't sure about it's reliability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DancingDoc Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 she and yes you're right.... that is what I meant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest konverse Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 does anyone find it strange that the Motorola Q doesn't come equipped with Documents To Go? how is one supposed to view/edit word and excel files? Can this program be installed after-market or does it have to be purchased seperately? looks like i'll have to spend some more time with the local telus rep... also a $60/month plan gets u 8mb data and 200 mins voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Ah... I was a little confused by your post Though, I still think that it's likely to work just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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