Palmedic 																																												v 1.1
Patient tracking software for the Newton MessagePad and related devices
by J Rick Adams and JRAd consulting

Overview

Palmedic is a full-featured patient tracking package similar to others you may have seen on the market, but at a much more reasonable price.  As a medical student, I began to realize the power and utility that the Newton PDAs could have on the wards- I could hold all the pertinent information regarding my patients right there in my hand.  Their medications and medication allergies, their lab reports (stretching back as far as I wanted them), an up-to-date problem list, all the procedures that they had received, and any notes I had written about them- from long H&Ps to short scribbles.  This device also had the ability to manage a to do list for these patients to keep me organized, on track, and looking good in front of my medical peers.  The only shortcoming was the medically related Newton software available at the time.  The two that even came close to my standards were remarkably overpriced.  On a student's budget (and even a Resident's salary, I realized), there was no way I could afford one of them.  What if they did not meet my needs?  What if they were buggy?  I'd be out a whole lot of money with no tool to satisfy me.  Thus, the dream of Palmedic was born- "if you want something done right, do it yourself" has been the motto behind the package ever since.  Palmedic has grown from a simple desire to be organized on rounds as a medical student to a package that rivals the expensive solutions on the market today.  There are no ICD-9 codes, no contact or datebook function within the program, only exactly what a medical student or housestaff would need to remain organized and in control while attempting to meet the needs of their patients and the wants of those "higher ups" who seem to wish their life miserable.  In addition to the abilities of Palmedic, the program is authored by an individual who is marketing the program as shareware.  There are no bureacrats, no red tape to go through- you offer a suggestion or mention a desire, you report a bug, and the author replies to your correspondence quickly and decisively.  He can distribute a new enhanced version or bug-fix version directly to your email box within a couple of days.  Additionally, he has produced a demo version of Palmedic which will assure the user that this package is the right tool before he has to spend a penny.

How To Contact the Author

by email:	jradams@kagi.com

on the WWW:	http://marlin.utmb.edu/~jradams/

by fax:	(409) 765-4393

PMInstaller

The Palmedic package includes an additional Newton pkg called PMInstaller.  This pkg is used to add the demo patient soup for trying out Palmedic, and will also add default preferences for use within the program. Users of Palmedic versions prior to 1.0 must delete the patient soup with the SoupBuilder package before running Palmedic. PMInstaller appropriately updates the preferences and patient soup of any version of Palmedic 1.0 and higher.

Program Use

Please see the full documentation.

Shareware notice

Palmedic is being released as shareware- the demo version allows 5 patients to be entered into the data soup and will not allow the filtering of patients.  If you use Palmedic for a period greater than 10 days to 2 weeks, you must pay the fee in order to legally continue using the package. On receipt of payment, a password that will unlock the program will be sent to you.  J Rick Adams and Kagi Services have come to an agreement on payment procedures.  Please see the WWW page listed above for full details on registration. There is a method to register Palmedic via Kagi Services directly from the home page listed above under "How to Contact..."  Thanks for trying Palmedic and thanks for registering it!

Documentation

Look on the web page listed above under "How To Contact the Author" to find the full documentation for Palmedic in Microsoft Word format.

History


v 1.1	(2/5/97)
7 customization of overview lists
7 customization of patient lists
7 "warnings" for lab values exceeding user-defined limits
7 added check boxes within lists to change often-changed values (e.g., to do done)
7 added ASAP to to do items
7 added a 'comments' field to medications
7 added a 'Seen' field to the overview screen to document when patient was last seen
7 code field is now user input instead of mandated to either 'Full' or 'DNR'
7 other user interface changes

 v 1.0.2	(9/22/96)

7 changed the way test field preferences were handled so that it would be more tolerant of 0 items present
7 fixed some problems with both sending and receiving of beamed and/or mailed data (this fix necessitated the removal of any sorting preferences you might have had)
7 altered the layout of the note printing template
7 fixed a problem with field tests not printing
7 fixed a problem with tests/notes not printing correctly on some Newtons with NOS 2.0
7 altered the characteristics of the input lines within Palmedic as some users were complaining of "different" recognition characteristics within Palmedic (e.g., always attempting word recognition instead of letter-by-letter)

v 1.0.1	(8/26/96)

7 fixed a problem with printing of some reports on some Newtons with NOS 2.0
7 fixed a problem with printing and beaming of individual items on some Newtons with NOS 2.0

v 1.0	(8/18/96)

7 first public release
