[Clinical and pharmacological databases for personal digital assistants]. / Bases de datos clínicas y farmacológicas para asistentes personales digitales.

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are part of the new technologies applied to medicine, which could improve both access to and storage of distinct databases. The present article reviews some general technical features, as well as the utility of these devices for consulting specific pediatric, clinical and pharmacological databases. A search was performed in Medline (1999 to 2004) and of web pages that described the use of PDAs and a total of 46 useful applications were identified, including pediatric diagnostic and treatment guidelines, databases of diagnostic procedures, guidelines for antibiotic therapy in the pediatric and adult populations, databases to establish the diagnosis and treatment of patients in emergency and intensive care medicine, catalogues of general drugs with complete pharmacological data (indications, doses, adverse effects, interactions, toxicology, pregnancy, lactation), specific databases of neonatology, otorhinolaryngology and pediatric surgery, and medical calculator software. Each reference details the contents, source of the reference information, memory requirements, operating system, cost, web page for downloads and whether there is a test version. There is a wide variety of pediatrics software for PDAs. Once the quality of these databases has been assessed, each user should evaluate which application will be most useful depending on his or her needs.

Bases de datos clínicas y farmacológicas para asistentes personales digitales / Clinical and pharmacological databases for personal digital assistants

Los asistentes personales digitales (personal digital assistants, PDA) forman parte de las nuevas tecnologías aplicadas a la medicina, que pueden mejorar tanto el acceso como el almacenamiento de distintas bases de datos. En el presente trabajo se revisan algunas generalidades técnicas, así como la utilidad de estos dispositivos para la consulta de bases de datos específicas de pediatría, clínicas y farmacológicas. Se ha realizado una búsqueda en Medline (1999-2004) y de las páginas web que describen utilidades de los PDA, recopilándose un total de 46 aplicaciones útiles, del tipo: guías de diagnóstico y de tratamiento pediátricas, bases de datos de procedimientos diagnósticos, guías de terapéutica antimicrobiana en pediatría y también en el adulto, bases de datos para establecer el diagnóstico y tratamiento de pacientes en medicina de urgencia y cuidados intensivos, catálogos de medicamentos generales con fichas farmacológicas completas (indicaciones, dosis, efectos adversos, interacciones, toxicología, embarazo, lactancia), bases de datos específicas de neonatología, otorrinolaringología y cirugía pediátrica, y software calculador médico. Para cada referencia se muestra la descripción del contenido, fuente de información de referencia, necesidades de memoria, sistema operativo, coste, la página web de descarga y si hay versión de prueba. Como resultado se muestra que existe una amplia oferta de software médico especializado en pediatría para PDA, por lo que una vez contrastada la calidad de estas bases de datos, cada usuario debe valorar cuál puede ser la más útil en función de sus necesidades y de los aspectos descritos

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are part of the new technologies applied to medicine, which could improve both access to and storage of distinct databases. The present article reviews some general technical features, as well as the utility of these devices for consulting specific pediatric, clinical and pharmacological databases. A search was performed in Medline (1999 to 2004) and of web pages that described the use of PDAs and a total of 46 useful applications were identified, including pediatric diagnostic and treatment guidelines, databases of diagnostic procedures, guidelines for antibiotic therapy in the pediatric and adult populations, databases to establish the diagnosis and treatment of patients in emergency and intensive care medicine, catalogues of general drugs with complete pharmacological data (indications, doses, adverse effects, interactions, toxicology, pregnancy, lactation), specific databases of neonatology, otorhinolaryngology and pediatric surgery, and medical calculator software. Each reference details the contents, source of the reference information, memory requirements, operating system, cost, web page for downloads and whether there is a test version. There is a wide variety of pediatrics software for PDAs. Once the quality of these databases has been assessed, each user should evaluate which application will be most useful depending on his or her needs