While these uses take advantage of the traditional role of handhelds, medical schools and other health education programs are quickly finding expanded uses for Palm devices. With them, medical students are able to carry medical reference information directly into the clinical environment. Students are using tracking software to monitor treatment progress, they can review drug interaction ebooks to guard against prescription conflicts, and they're able to take notes during consultations. Software and hardware is under development to allow students to beam information directly into the hospital patient record system immediately after leaving the clinical environment.

PDA Interest Group
At the Medical College of Virginia campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (at http://www.vcu.edu/medcent/), there are several PDA projects under development. VCU Libraries has started a PDA Interest Group that brings together faculty and students from multiple health programs on VCU's Medical College of Virginia Campus. The libraries sponsor quarterly meetings that consist of speakers and discussion periods during which users share their experiences and favorite uses. A listserv has also been established among all whom are interested in sharing information, experiences, and ideas. Groups from the School of Medicine, School of Pharmacy, and School of Nursing have initiated PDA projects with either Palm OS devices or other handhelds.

PDA pilot program
The School of Medicine's Computer Based Instruction Lab, known as CBIL, initiated a PDA pilot program this fall. After announcing the project, fifteen students were randomly selected from the list of volunteers. The group consists of second, third, and forth year medical students. Students who already own Palm devices participate in the group as well. The volunteers were issued Handspring Visor Deluxe models and were trained on how to use them.

The students were also provided with a subscription to the Mobile Practice collection of e-books from Handheldmed.com at http://www.handheldmed.com. This gave the participants access to hundreds of titles, including The Merck Manual, The 5 Minute Clinical Consult, and The Physician's Drug Handbook. In exchange for the hardware and software, the participants are required to write regular evaluations of their experiences and attend at least two user-group meetings. Many of the students have commented on the ability to instantly access diagnosis and drug information and evaluate symptoms while making rounds.