Andrew Yee's Medical Palm Info

Here's a collection of software links and descriptions that I have and/or tried.

General Palm resources

• Note that some of these websites steer you towards commercial software...the majority of the the software I use is available free.
• Palmgear.  Great resource of freeware, shareware, and commercial stuff for the Palm.  Has a medical section ("browse" under the software section).
• Handango.  Similar to Palmgear with a collection of free, shareware, and commercial software for the Palm.
• Healthy Palmpilot.  Website focused on medical software for Palm.
• pdaMD.  Another website focused on medical software
• Medical Piloteer webring.  Collection of links to Palm medical sites.
• Dr. Kent Willyard's Peripheral Brain.  Riverside Family Practice Residency Program's web page of useful Palm medical resources, maintained by Dr. Willyard.
• Memoware.  Among its many documents for the Palm is a collection of medical references and notes.
• Jim Thompson's Palm Pages.  Includes general Palm information as well as links to medically-oriented Palm info.
• Pediatrics on Hand.  Pediatrics-oriented Palm info.
• Wright State University. Another useful source for medically-oriented Palm links.

General programs

• Note some of these links are quite old, as the software listed below may not necessarily be compatible with the Tungsten family. E.g. Zarf's catalog, RPN calculator, Handwrite 3.
• Datebk5.  Shareware.  Incredible program, functions as a replacement for the relatively useless built-in datebook.  I don't know what I'd do without it...Datebk5 makes the Palm 1000x more useful.
• BigClock.  Free.  Great clock, alarm clock, and timer.  Plus it's free too. However, not compatible with Tungsten T3 and potentially other newer Palms
• LauncherX.  Free.  New version as LauncherX, an update from LauncherIII.  Another great program which functions as a replacement for the built-in launcher and substantially increases its functionality.  December 8, 2002
• Handwrite3.  Free.  Great program for allowing you to scribble stuff on the screen directly like phone numbers when you don't have time to deal with graffiti.  I changed my To Do list button to activate this program.  However, not compatible with Palm OS 4.0.
• Zarf's Catalog.  Free.  Useful utility for allowing you to manipulate the files like databases and hacks that the built-in launcher doesn't show you. Not compatible with Palm OS 5
• RPN calculator.  Shareware.  If you like using HP calculators with Reverse Polish Notation, this calculator will let you do that on the Palm. August 21, 2000
• Backup Buddy.  Commercial. Not a Palm program, but a Windows or Mac program for backing up everything on your Palm, even the preferences.  Worth the cost for the piece of mind.  However, with the latest version of the Palm desktop, not sure if this program is really necessary or not.  May 6, 2001

Medical programs, more useful

• ePocrates.  Free.  Version 6.0 available now.  Palm version of Pharmacopoeia but also includes indications and adverse drug reactions. Also ePocrates Pro which costs money but includes tables. October 22, 2002
• Eponyms database.  Free.  I have to make a shameless plug for something that I've created and continue to update, a database of over 1,500 medical eponyms. Now available as a stand alone database thanks to Dr. Mathias Tschopp, developer of MedCalc.
• MedCalc.  Free.  Indispensable resource with multiple calculators including those for Child-Pugh score, MELD score, etc. Updated quite frequently. May 31, 2002
• 2003 Cancer Chemotherapeutic Agents Guide and Cancer Staging Guide. Free. Collection of cancer staging and treatment regimens. Sponsored by Ortho Biotech. December 12, 2003
• TNM staging. TNM staging system for the Palm. Free too! Developed by the USC department of radiation oncology physics. July 12, 2004
• HaemOncRules. Collection of algorithims useful in hematology and oncology, including MDS prognosis, FAB classifications, etc.  This software is updated fairly frequently. August 7, 2004.
• Adjuvant! Online. Resource for estimating benefits of adjuvant hormonal therapy and chemotherapy in breast cancer. February 16, 2005
• Myriad's BRCA1/2 Mutation Prevalence Guide for Palm. March 10, 2005
• Prediction tools for the Palm. Nomograms developed at Sloan-Kettering for multiple malignancies, including breast and prostate cancer. March 16, 2005
• MEDLINE Database on TAP.  Free.  Access PubMed from your PDA.  November 19, 2006
  
• Handhelddoc.com. Has two programs, EM Rules and Sepsis EGDT. Useful for decision making in the emergency department (e.g. C-spine rules, Ottawa Ankle Rule).July 9, 2007
  

Medical programs, other

• 5 Minute Clinical Consult.  Commercial.  A medical reference based on the book by a similar title.  Has blurbs on nearly every disease condition.  I haven't fully field tested it, but preliminarily, not as useful as anticipated.
• ACS trials in your Palm. Written by BWH cardiology department.
• ABG Pro.  Free.  Let's you calculate blood gas stuff.  Not as useful as I would have anticipated.
• American College of Cardiology clinical guidelines.  Used to be free in the past, but now requires some kind of membership. ACC guidelines for management of stable angina, pacemakers, myocardial infarction, etc., access through InfoGuide software and Adobe Acrobat also available at same site. See below for guidelines in Apprisor format. November 20, 2006
• Apprisor. Freeware. Has ACC guidelines and other guidelines in Apprisor format. Interface appears to be more useful than Acrobat format offered through ACC website. July 30, 2003.
• MathPad.  Shareware.  Lets you create your own equations. Includes some medical equations already. In addition, see The Pediatric Pilot Page for additional equations for MathPad. August 9, 2000
• Johns Hopkins antibiotic guide.  Palm version of Johns Hopkins ID recommendations on antibiotic choices.  Includes their "expert opinion" on various antibiotic regimens, including what they feel are good and bad choices.  May 6, 2001
• Biochemistry diagram.  Requires Fireviewer.  Diagram showing Kreb's cycle, glycolysis, etc.  Adapted from well-known review book.  May 6, 2001
• TIMI risk calculator.  Free.  Calculator for risk stratifying patients with unstable angina and non ST elevation MI, based on "The TIMI Risk Score for Unstable Angina/Non–ST Elevation MI:  A Method for Prognostication and Therapeutic Decision Making," JAMA 2000:284:835.  May 26, 2001
• unitConv. Shareware. Unit converter, e.g. converting mL to tablespoons, etc. May 27, 2001
• CodeRef.  Shareware. Guide to ACLS protocols (as revised September 2000).  May 30, 2001
• Palm Radiology.  Freeware.  A collection of radiology DOC files at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  August 14, 2001
• MedRules. Freeware. Medical prediction rules, including PORT score and APACHE II scoring systems. January 3, 2004
• American College of Chest Physicians guidelines.  Freeware.  Includes Chest2001 guidelines on managing antithrombotic therapy.  October 9, 2001
• Evidence Based Medicine 2 Go. Guidelines, databases available for the Palm.
• MedMath.  Free.  Lets you calculate a variety of equations like creatinine clearance, BMI, etc. Now version 1.2. Not as many features as MedCalc. May 17, 2001
• qID.  Bundled with ePocrates Pro (which must be purchased).  From the makers of ePocrates.  Antibiotic guide.  I had high expectations for it, but I don't have the same confidence in using it compared to the Sanford guide. Haven't used the newer version. October 22, 2002
• Tarascon's ePharmacopoeia.  Demo version.  Tarascon's answer to ePocrates with their version of their Pharmacopoeia.  However, have found ePocrates interface cleaner and faster. Have not treid out the newer version.  May 28, 2001

Useful additions or hacks (requires Hackmaster or X-Master)

• Note that with Palm OS 5.0, a lot of these hacks do not work anymore!
• Hackmaster.  Shareware. Lets you run hacks which are programs that run in the background and enhance the functionality of the Palm. See below.
• X-Master.  Freeware.  A successor to Hackmaster with some more functinality. Compatible with Palm OS 4.0 (so far). May 27, 2001
• SwitchHack.  Shareware.  Great hack for letting you switch between programs directly. Lets you go from program to program with the stroke of the pen instead of always having go back to the "home page."
• ClearHack.  Shareware.  Awesome program for getting rid of those exasperatingly annoying lines of dots in memo. Wouldn't know what I'd do without this incredibly useful hack.
• PalmVContrast.  Freeware.  For the Palm V. Great little hack for letting you assign a program to the Palm V contrast button. I use it to make it access BigClock.
• FindHack. Shareware. Lets you tailor the find button to search more specifically (e.g., within the open program only) instead of searching everything on the Palm.
• ReDigi. Freeware. Finding that the Palm doesn't recognize your stylus properly anymore, and when you try to recalibrate it, it's so off that the Palm won't even let you do that? This program activates the digitizer screen automatically after you do a soft reset of the Palm. November 12, 2000
• EasyLaunch. Freeware. Great hack that lets you launch programs with varius strokes of the stylus. August 14, 2001
• MiddleCaps.  Freeware.  Hack that automatically capitalizes letters based on where you start writing or if you gross the "line" between the alphabetical and numerical area of grafitti.  Saves you an extra stroke when doing capital letters.  May 28, 2001

Document and database programs

• JFile 5.5.  (Was JFile Pro and now new version that succeeds JFile 4).  Shareware.  This program lets you view JFile databases that you can download.  You can also create your own JFile database (say a list or table) by first creating it in Excel and then converting it to JFile with the utility that comes with the program when you download it.
• Quickword.  (Was SmartDoc).  Shareware.  This lets you view and edit Doc documents, a format that many people use for creating text files that exceed the built-in memo's capacity.  May 6, 2001
• MakeDocW. Free. This is a Windows program that lets you convert standard .txt documents (e.g., after converting a Word .doc file to a .txt file) to Palm Doc files.
• Fireviewer.  Commercial, but viewer program for Palm free.  Lets you view images and diagrams on the Palm.  See below.  May 6, 2001

Questions, comments?

Please e-mail me at yee@post.harvard.edu.

July 9, 2007
Andrew J. Yee, M.D.