Have you ever wanted to calculate the predicted peak flow for one of your asthmatic patients without spending valuable minutes searching for that confounded little slide rule gizmo? Wouldnt it be great if you could somehow remember all Mrs. Jones medications when the nursing home calls to see if its OK to treat her acutely elevated blood pressure with some atenolol?

Handheld computers are emerging as the stethoscopes of the twenty-first century, and no clinician should be without this essential tool. These small, easy-to-use devices are now powerful enough to help clinicians manage information and make medical decisions at the point of care. This comprehensive how-to guide targets all levels of handheld computer users, from novices to experts, and demonstrates how to make the most of handheld computers in any medical practice.

Designed with easy-to-understand, hands-on exercises for each new skill presented, this book begins with choosing a handheld and "getting to know" your new device. It then progresses through downloading and installing software, using charge capture and e-prescription programs, Internet and evidence-based resources for your device, designing and programming your own programs, and going wireless. Written by three experienced family medicine clinicians, Handhelds in Medicine is designed to improve every day practice for any busy health professional. There are chapters written for and by nearly every health professional, including nurses, physician assistants and speech pathologists. Reviews of handheld devices and websites will be kept current at www.handheldsinmedicine.com

Scott M. Strayer, MD, MPH, is Assistant Professor of Family Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Peter L. Reynolds, MD,is formerly Assitant Professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.  Dr. Reynolds is currently serving overseas with the U.S. Air Force in Geilenkirchen, Germany.

Mark H. Ebell, MD, MS, is Associate Professor in the Department of Family Practice at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

Getting to Know Your Handheld Computer.- Choosing a Handheld Computer: PDAs, MDAs, and the Alphabet Soup of Handheld Computers.- Getting to Know Your Handheld: Palm OS and Pocket PC.- Getting Software from Cyberspace to the Palm of Your Hand: Downloading and Installing Software on Your Palm OS or Pocket PC Handheld.- Medical Software.- Where in the World Wide Web Do I Find All This Stuff? Finding Medical Software and Information on the Web for Handheld Computers.- What Floor Is Mrs. Jones on, and What Does Her CBC Look Like Today? Patient Records on Handheld Computers.- Calculator Programs for Handheld Computers: Crunching the Numbers Made Easy.- Medical References: Information at Your Fingertips.- Getting Paid for What You Do: Avoid Losing Your Shirt by Using a Handheld Computer for Billing.- Electronic Prescribing: Drug Dealing Twenty-First Century Style.- Medical Documents in Your Pocket.- Capturing Life in the Palm of Your Hand: Getting Rid of the Yellow Stickies by Using a Handheld Database.- Software for Nursing: RNs Are Mobilizing.- Software for Other Healthcare Professionals: Hey, What About Me?.- Advanced Topics.- Evidence-Based Medicine and Handhelds.- Wireless 101.- Programmable Calculators.- How to Make Your Own Database: Programming a Simple Procedure Log.- Creating Your Own Programs.- Beyond the Beam: Server-Based Synchronization.- Teaching People to Use Handheld Computers.