Photo by Susanna Tanner An IU East senior nursing student checks her Palm Pilot. The project, created by IU East nursing lecturers Diana Stanforth and Mary Lou Koenig, was assisted by an 2003-2004 IU East Technology Advancement Teaching and Learning Award.

Eighteen checked out palm pilots at the beginning of the academic year and have depended on them each time they walk into class or report to a clinical assignment.

Mary Lou Koenig and Diana Stanforth, both lecturers in nursing at IU East, teamed up to apply for an IU East Technology Advancement Teaching and Learning Award.

After receiving the award, they purchased Palm Pilots (personal digital assistants or PDAs) and assigned one to every senior nursing student. The PDAs include references that have been downloaded into the memory of the device and include pharmacological references, standard calculators, medical calculators, obstetric and pediatric calculations as well as other reference materials. The students even have access to the nursing clinical skills assessment forms which they can fill out on their PDA.

“This is something that pharmacists and physicians are using, but it is still new for nurses,” Stanforth explained. “This is cutting edge, not a lot of nurses out there are using them,” Koenig added.

Stanforth said IU East is the only IU campus utilizing PDAs in nursing curriculum. Other campuses eagerly await the result of the study, because they are interested in integrating similar technology. In addition, IU East may be influencing some hospitals to equip their nurses with handheld devices. Koenig reported that administrators at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, were inspired to incorporate handhelds into the daily activities of their nurses after observing IU East students utilizing the electronic devices during clinical assignments. In class, students report that nurses at their clinical sites will ask to borrow their PDAs.

Koenig and Stanforth are evaluating three elements of the project. First, they are reviewing time management and predict that the handheld devices will save students time when gathering and inputting data at clinical sites, cutting the amount of time to research a patient.

Second, the two faculty members also hope to improve efficiency when students care for patients. The applications and reference software on the PDAs allow students to have a wealth of information at their fingertips.

The last component of the project is to improve and enhance technological learning. Many students had never used a PDA before last fall. The IU East Teaching and Learning Center spent two days conducting a workshop on how to operate the electronic gadgets.

Some students were intimidated when they learned they would be required to use the handheld devices. But that seems to be changing. Many juniors this year greatly anticipate and look forward to utilizing this tool. “I like the PDAs,” stated Carrie Schmidgall, a senior nursing student. “I didn’t know how to use a PDA before, but I was really excited about using it when I got it.” A lot of juniors purchased their own this year so that they could become familiar with the PDAs before being required to use them next year, Stanforth added.

Even though the grant only supported the initial purchase of the PDAs and officially ends in May, Stanforth is looking to the future. The program will continue next year and, given the resources, might even expand to include more technology. “My most ambitious dream for next year is enhancing the PDAs with laptop computers so that students can take the laptops with them to class and clinical assignments,” Stanforth said.