Personal digital assistants (PDAs): review and evaluation

With the rapid turnover of health care information and the ongoing need for content revision, traditional textbooks may no longer serve as reliable, current resources for nursing students. Nurse educators, challenged to select relevant resources, are looking to handheld technology, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), for teaching and learning. The National League for Nursing Task Group on Instructional Technology has undertaken a review of articles in an attempt to summarize current literature regarding the use of PDAs in nursing. This article reports on the task group's findings. The task group identified a variety of articles and summarized relevant information for nursing education. Findings from the literature indicate that PDA use in the classroom and clinical setting has become more prevalent. However, only a small number of articles provide evidence about the effectiveness of PDAs in nursing. Most provide descriptive information and are also of value.