Technology in nursing education: a study of PDA use by students

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) were first used by the public in the early 1990 s. Initially used as a device to manage personal information, these devices quickly evolved. Currently, PDAs are capable of storing and exchanging large amounts of information, which truly make them handheld computers. As such, they have great value for professional use. Health care professionals require access to ever-expanding knowledge, and PDAs or other handheld computer devices can serve as valuable tools for education, information storage and retrieval, and clinical practice. This article describes the use of PDAs by undergraduate and graduate nursing students during their educational process. A descriptive study was conducted at a small, private university school of nursing at which all nursing students receive PDAs prior to their first clinical experiences. Findings from the study indicated that students used their PDAs for both classroom and clinical activities and that drug reference software was the most frequently used software application. Information was also obtained about the facilitators and barriers to PDA use.