Carry a clinical textbook in your Palm

EMIS has developed Palm Mentor, a memory card full of clinical information to fit into GPs’ Palm handheld devices, in order to support decision-making while on the move.

The card contains all the Oxford Handbooks of Clinical Medicine and Specialties, and also GP-authored EMIS Medical Immediate Reference Articles, and is an extension of EMIS’s Web Mentor Library. Calculators, tables and medical images are also available for reference purposes. A subscription can be purchased that ensures the information is kept current.

According to EMIS, the card would be most useful for GPs who regularly carry out visits to schools and nursing homes, as well as those who do home visits.

Dr Bill Westwood, a GP in Gateshead who has been using a pilot version of Palm Mentor for several weeks, said: "I think it does a good job of addressing the information needed to support decisions away from the consulting room.

“Navigation is easy, the information is arranged in a hierarchical structure that can be navigated by tapping hyperlinks, and remarkably, it even includes images. All in all it is a comprehensive reference resource."

A spokesperson for EMIS told E-Health Insider that they planned to release cards for other handheld devices, such as the iPAQ and the Toshiba Pocket PC in the near future: “We started using Palm because we have another Palm product where you can download patient records onto your handheld."

Other future plans for the device include the addition of other publications, including the British National Formulary (BNF).

The card costs £68, with a £21 annual subscription fee to keep the information up-to-date, and can be used independently of whatever clinical IT system is in the surgery. More details, along with a demo, can be found on the Web Mentor Library website.