Portable Emergency and Primary Care Information Database (PEPID) has developed a suite of medical personal digital assistant (PDA) software for a wide range of medical professionals. This review covers the RN Clinical Nursing Suite. PEPID was developed in 1994 by Mark Rosenbloom, a faculty member of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. What began as an emergency and primary care tool has expanded into a suite of thirteen products.
Purpose
The PEPID family of PDA tools are intended for point of care clinical settings, in contrast to reference tools such as Lippincott's Manual of Nursing Practice for the PDA.
General description
PEPID RN is a bundle of nursing tools integrated and hypertexted in one search screen. It was developed by a multi-specialty team of nurses and doctors and includes a drug database, medical calculator, illustrations, abbreviations, nursing procedures, and more. The information is written in a shorthand, bulleted format that is easy to read and does not take up much screen space.
Contents
The content is authored by a team of over twenty nurses and physicians. PEPID RN combines clinical content on diseases and conditions with medical calculators, a complete drug database, and health and wellness teaching guides. Because PEPID started as an emergency medicine tool it has a rich collection of information related to emergency nursing.
Intended audience
The RN Clinical Nursing Suite is for nurses working in a clinical setting.
Major features
PEPID RN contains a table of contents, a section on abbreviations, a glossary, and an eponyms section. Information on nearly 2,000 diseases and trauma topics covers diagnosis, treatment, and disposition. An acute care hotlink (critical care reference) provides links to immediate lifesaving protocols such as basic life support and pediatric life support. Nursing specific procedures detail the role of nurses in real world practice. A large nursing specialty category includes cardiovascular; ear, nose, and throat; pediatrics; and more. The general nursing section includes information on topics such as pain management and electrolyte imbalances. A nice feature is the age-specific considerations targeting the needs of diverse patients. A complete drug database with over 6,000 drugs is included. Over the counter drugs as well as herbal, generic, and trade name drugs are indexed. The drug interaction module allows users to enter up to 40 drugs at once. A new laboratory manual includes information on over 300 common lab tests. Users can take personal notes on any page. A medical calculator is included as well as hyperlinks throughout the RN database that are linked to various calculation functions.
Accessibility
PEPID supports several platforms: Palm OS, Windows mobile, mobile wireless, and the first medical knowledge tool and drug application designed exclusively for use with Blackberry. PEPID RN is also available via the Web at www.pepid.com.
Usability
A few years ago, the reviewer was part of a project that allowed nurse refresher students to use PDAs on their clinical rotations. I downloaded and installed eleven tools such as a drug database, a nursing procedure book, EKG tool, and a medical calculator on the Palm E PDA. An hour-long instruction class was given to all nurses before their clinical rotations. Each application had a different search screen, a different display of information, and different ways to maneuver around in the application. There has to be a better way to do this. What PEPID RN did is put tools that nurses use every day into a very user-friendly space.
By having faster navigation and fully integrated content, PEPID won the PDA CORTEX Golden Software Award that recognizes mobile programming excellence for health care applications. To be awarded, software must have a high degree of clinical relevance; it must consistently return accurate, relevant results, and/or data; and it must be easy to download and easy to implement. The search index contains keywords and topics that are sorted alphabetically and allow users to find links and open them to more information. The illustrations are hyperlinked, or users may search the image index. Users can also use a quick reference icon to search via a thematic listing of topics such as procedures or lab values.
Advantages over other formats of the same item
The integrated interface is the biggest advantage over other suites of tools that have different functions. Because I am such a visual person, I really appreciated the embedded illustrations that include rhythm strips, anatomy, and the Rule of 9. The information on the lab values has more than just normal ranges. They also include critical values and lists of conditions and medications associated with atypical levels.
Deficiencies and disadvantages
Unlike purchasing a textbook in PDA format that can be kept forever, access to PEPID is denied once the subscription expires. I downloaded a trial version of PEPID RN. I would suggest that PEPID better define the icons on their download page for their various products. It was difficult to distinguish between the four RN suites of products. The icons did not have titles; most had symbols such as a nursing cap or initials. For example, CRC, the Clinical Rotation Companion, had a graduation cap on the icon. I downloaded the Oncology nursing suite by mistake the first time I attempted to install the PEPID RN suite.
Technological administration issues
To run PEPID from the SD memory card, users need 4 MB of free memory on a PDA and 8 MB of free memory on a SD memory card. Installation is via a download and hot sync with a PDA. Users may also order a memory card preloaded with the product and exchange the memory card for an updated version when available. After downloading the trial version of PEPID RN, I found that I had to contact support to get an activation code to be able to use the database. However, I did receive an email from the president of the company a week later inquiring if everything went smoothly with my recent download. This personal touch is a refreshing change to other databases I have had experience with.
Timeliness
Upgrades to subscribers occur approximately every eight to ten weeks. On occasion PEPID will send out urgent updates.
Brief comparison to other similar products
PEPID RN compares favorably with other similar products. For example, it has more than 1,900 medical disease presentations, compared to ePocrates Rx Pro's 174 medical presentations.
Conclusion
The subscription to PEPID RN includes access to a Web-based version as well. The integrated interface offers a good solution for the clinical nurse's point of care needs. Once users start using PEPID RN with its integrated interface to so many tools at once, it may be hard to rely on other resources for information. However, losing access to the database once a subscription expires is something to consider before purchasing PEPID products. Experienced nurses would benefit by using the PEPID RN suite, while nursing students may benefit more by having nursing textbooks on their PDAs.