PLANS

Tomorrow I am leaving the island here for another month. I will not have computer access for that time. I have not been able to work on the PDA project much this last week. I had one day off out of the last nine. But I do have today off. We also switched to 12 hour shifts at work. Plus and minus about that.

I hope I can work an hour or so on the resource evaluation. I was doing 15 minute a day stints. I am just totally eliminating resources that are not appropriate, so I can't say how many websites I have checked. I have 76 evaluated websites so far.

I also checked out a PDA training CD. It was pretty good . . . but it promised more information in Level two. Level two is included on the CD but you have to get another code to unlock Level two. That is disappointing and makes me mad.

The first part of the training CD was very good. I think it would be a good place to start for new nurses. It is titled "Power By Hand PDA Power Training For Palm OS" and can be obtained via a number of vendors. I paid about 20 dollars for it, but one source offers it for as low as 9.99.

Well, this part of the project has been taking forever, but it is getting done.

UPDATE

Just a note. I am still evaluating PDA web resources. This is actually a great exercise to help become familiar with a topic. I have checked out 60 websites. I know I am slow but there is so much criteria. I have over 60 to go. So I am almost half way through.

This is pretty good, because I really thought I would absolutely never, never get through with this stage of the project. And I really hated this process. If I ever get so I like it I will consider doing it for money though.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but in addition to the content criteria (see first blog entry) I have learning criteria and website criteria and descriptions to do on each website.

NURSING LANGUAGE STANDARDIZATION

Duke University School of Nursing (Informatics) has 3 main goals on this webpage:

To inform nurses of the importance of standardized nursing languages

To explain essential but sometimes confusing terminology

To familiarize nurses with some of the already existing languages

What does this have to do with PDAs?

I believe that standard language is the interface between PDA technology and actual nursing practice.

This is one of the main reasons that PDAs are or should be important to nurses.

Standardized Nursing Languages

Computer Competencies Assessment

Designed by June Kaminski, RN, MSN, this site has tools to assess computer competencies. I believe that computer competencies are essential for nurses. I also believe that healthcare in general is behind in information technology utilization.

These assessments might be used individually or in a class format.

Nursing Informatic Competencies

This section is part of a website designed by Kaminski about Nursing Informatics. Kaminski seems dedicated to empowering nurses. She is a Canadian Nurse teaching at Kwantlen University in Western Canada. She is working on her PhD at the University of British Columbia. I admire her work and agree with her admonition to "Empower Yourself."