[Web4lib] PDA Reference Services @ The [Health] Library

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

PDA Reference Services @ The [Health] Library 

 

Colleagues/

 

Of Potential Value / Interest To Others / Many   ... / Gerry 

 

Paula Saraiva / PDA Reference Services @ the Library / GMS Medizin -
Bibliothek - Information /  2008 / Vol. 8(2)  / ISSN 1865-066X / Doc13.

 

Abstract > There is an increasing need felt by the health library users
for obtaining accurate, up to date, evidence-based and mobile scientific
information in their daily clinical practice. The need to reduce
diagnostic errors, save time and achieve the best decision-making for
their patients, has became a serious problem to this group of health
professionals, claiming more often to have close to them, a portable
library open 24 hours a day.

 

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have been successfully introduced
into the health libraries environment and give the users the opportunity
to have the most recent and scientific information "in the palm of their
hands". The main objective of this study was to contribute to the
implementation of user reference services based in PDAs, in Health
Libraries in order to guarantee our health professional users, autonomy
and mobility in their work places near the patients. We aim to know, if
the European Health Libraries, are fully aware of the strengths and
power of these new type of PDA-based services, giving them the chance to
offer the adjusted help to this new user needs.

 

The methodology used is based on online surveys, submitted to Portuguese
and European Health Libraries, and by interviews conducted with a group
of selected health expert PDA users in medicine. We concluded that using
PDAs is the future in medicine and the new mission of health libraries
is to offer services based on mobile technologies such as PDAs, if they
want to serve their users with excellence.

 

Keywords > PDA, Personal Digital Assistant, handheld computer, Palm,
PocketPC, mobile library, electronic medical information, medical
informatics, mobile health technology, health libraries survey

 

Links to Conclusion and Full Open Access Text Available At 

 

[ http://tinyurl.com/y96ndm6  ]

 

/Gerry 

 

Gerry McKiernan

Associate Professor

Science and Technology Librarian

Iowa State University Library

Ames IA 50011

 

gerrymck at iastate.edu 

 

There Are No Answers, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying

 

The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed

Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace