I am a physician who has used the HP 200LX and its predecessors over the past five to six years continually in my medical practice. I do not think there is anything that compares with it for convenience and utility, however, if these computers are to be used in the medical practice, there needs to be someone, either HP or programmers, that address in detail the medical profession. The machine is adequate, but the software is marginal.
Franklin has already come out with a unit that does not have anywhere near the capabilities of the HP machine, and yet they have cards that reproduce some of the most useful medical literature imaginable, such as the Washington Manual, medical dictionaries, etc., and they are being marketed heavily in medical and university bookstores. I do not know whether Franklin has an exclusive right to these books, but these need to be produced for the HP Palmtop computers also.
Marshall Lynch Leary, Jr., MD
Monroe, LA
[The books you mention may not be on the Palmtop yet, but when I searched our HP Palmtop Paper CD ROM, I found more medical references for the Palmtop than I have time or space to include. Here are a few of them Paul. The CD to be formally announced Spring of 1996 please don't call yet as it is still in development. Thanks! Paul Merrill]
P*M*R: Physicians Medical Reference
Drug Information Handbook
5 Minute Clinical Consult (PC Card Review 95)
PEPID: Palmtop Emergency Physician Information Database. Covers: Pharmacology, General E.R., Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Toxicology, and Trauma. (PC Card Review 95)
Personal Food Analyst: Consumer and Professional versions. (PC Card Review 95)
Pocket RD II: Nutrition Software. (PC Card Review 95)
Harvard Medical Schools use of the Palmtop by a team of 400 medical students. (Pg.12, Vol.4, No.5 (Sep/Oct), 95)
The PalmVue System (Critical patient data made wireless). (Pg.6, Vol.4, No.3 (May/June), 95)
CompuServe's Medical Forum for HP Palmtops. (Pg.12, Vol.4, No.2 (March /April), 95)
HPMEDCOM.ZIP <ON HP PALMTOP PAPER ON DISK> -- A list of Commercial Medical Software for the Palmtop. (Pg.7 this issue)