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iPad Which Ipad for nursing school?
- Thread starter medic27
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Air is way too big for clinicals, just forget it, that is if you plan on carrying it in your lab coat pocket. Obviously you'll find some people who've done it but the mini is the de facto standard for tablets on the wards, or the Nexus 7 if you want even more portability/comfort at the expense of lower-quality apps.
For class, I imagine the Air would be quite a bit better because you'll be putting it in your backpack anyway, plus the text is bigger, powerpoints are bigger, etc.
I'm in my senior year of nursing school. If I were to get anything - it would've been an iPod touch. That being said, I use an iPad Air but not for clinicals.
In the U.S. (i'm in Michigan), HIPPA is HUGE. I'm sure you're familiar. Many clinical instructors (at least for my school) will not allow us to have cell phones on the floor. Tablets are too big, and still not allowed. The only electronic thing we are allowed to have is a calculator. Drug book EBOOK, drug cards, whatever, forget about it. You'll be writing them on 4x4 cards or pieces of paper.
In theory its great, and I see TONS of residents with iPads, and a lot more with Macbook Airs. You are not at your clinical site enough for the facility to allow you access to their electronic charting (that's just a nightmare). Some clinical sites you might be able to access it via internet, it just depends.
I have rambled on a little much, but, apart from carrying all your textbooks (which BTW is a godsend!!) on your iPad, you won't / will not be allowed to use it during clinical. Plus, you are WAY too busy to be carrying an iPad around. You will be doing a lot of NA work as well. You don't want to expose your iPad to that.
I'm a medical student in the clinical phase. I use an iPad Mini. The regular iPad - even the Air - is too large to fit in a white-coat pocket. I've worked with some resident physicians who use a full-sized iPad, but even when they have white coats that have pockets large enough for an iPad they tend to keep the iPad out. It's too much trouble to store it and then get it out of the pocket. With the iPad Mini, I just easily slip it into or out of the pocket. It's a very fast process.
No hospital has given me issues about HIPPA. I don't know if nurses face greater scrutiny about this, or if I just haven't hit a strict hospital yet. I hand-write patient notes on my iPad. It's worth noting that the data on iOS devices is encrypted by default. As long as your device is passcode-protected, the data can't be recovered without the passcode (or at all, if you initiate a remote wipe). Of note, you can use passwords longer than four characters if you'd like. I use a complex password on my device. It slows you down a bit, but you can get pretty quick about entering it with some practice. (It'll be nice when iPads get TouchID...)
As an aside, I can recommend the Otterbox Defender cases. They're not water-proof, but they provide excellent all-around protection, including the screen. You can use the C. diff-killing bleach wipes on them to sanitize them, too, or remove it from the device to wash it with soap and water if you like; either way, the case won't be damaged, and you can keep it sanitary. Just one note about the bleach wipes: the screen protector attains a frosty appearance once the bleach dries, requiring you to wipe the screen with a damp cloth or paper towel to fully restore it to its clear state. Just mentioning it because I had a near-panic when it first happened to me, and I worried that I made the case useless
No hospital has given me issues about HIPPA. I don't know if nurses face greater scrutiny about this, or if I just haven't hit a strict hospital yet. I hand-write patient notes on my iPad. It's worth noting that the data on iOS devices is encrypted by default. As long as your device is passcode-protected, the data can't be recovered without the passcode (or at all, if you initiate a remote wipe). Of note, you can use passwords longer than four characters if you'd like. I use a complex password on my device. It slows you down a bit, but you can get pretty quick about entering it with some practice. (It'll be nice when iPads get TouchID...)
As an aside, I can recommend the Otterbox Defender cases. They're not water-proof, but they provide excellent all-around protection, including the screen. You can use the C. diff-killing bleach wipes on them to sanitize them, too, or remove it from the device to wash it with soap and water if you like; either way, the case won't be damaged, and you can keep it sanitary. Just one note about the bleach wipes: the screen protector attains a frosty appearance once the bleach dries, requiring you to wipe the screen with a damp cloth or paper towel to fully restore it to its clear state. Just mentioning it because I had a near-panic when it first happened to me, and I worried that I made the case useless
I'm a medical student in the clinical phase. I use an iPad Mini. The regular iPad - even the Air - is too large to fit in a white-coat pocket. I've worked with some resident physicians who use a full-sized iPad, but even when they have white coats that have pockets large enough for an iPad they tend to keep the iPad out. It's too much trouble to store it and then get it out of the pocket. With the iPad Mini, I just easily slip it into or out of the pocket. It's a very fast process.
No hospital has given me issues about HIPPA. I don't know if nurses face greater scrutiny about this, or if I just haven't hit a strict hospital yet. I hand-write patient notes on my iPad. It's worth noting that the data on iOS devices is encrypted by default. As long as your device is passcode-protected, the data can't be recovered without the passcode (or at all, if you initiate a remote wipe). Of note, you can use passwords longer than four characters if you'd like. I use a complex password on my device. It slows you down a bit, but you can get pretty quick about entering it with some practice. (It'll be nice when iPads get TouchID...)
As an aside, I can recommend the Otterbox Defender cases. They're not water-proof, but they provide excellent all-around protection, including the screen. You can use the C. diff-killing bleach wipes on them to sanitize them, too, or remove it from the device to wash it with soap and water if you like; either way, the case won't be damaged, and you can keep it sanitary. Just one note about the bleach wipes: the screen protector attains a frosty appearance once the bleach dries, requiring you to wipe the screen with a damp cloth or paper towel to fully restore it to its clear state. Just mentioning it because I had a near-panic when it first happened to me, and I worried that I made the case useless
My guess would be 1. different clinical sites/policies and 2. medical students / residents probably have a bit more leniency in this regard.
I think with nurses, we are interacting with the patient a whole lot more where iPads/Macbook Airs become significantly less practical. I would hate to have to worry about my iPad etc. every time I needed to go pass a med, check on a patient, or whatnot. Physicians tend to round for a bit, and then spend a significant more amount of time charting / reviewing results. (This is not me starting a nurse vs physician debate, just what I believe to be true in regards to practicality)
That is a good idea. Also talk to the person in charge of the clinicals and see what they suggest. That said, I think the iPad mini would be the better choice because it is smaller.
I use iPad Air NOT for clinicals but mainly for studying, reading books (eBooks for textbooks), etc. I personally would go for the Air because it's convenient to read PowerPoints off of, work on your own projects, type on, take notes, review/edit notes (apps like GoodNotes are fantastic for you to write on your own notes). As for on the floor, I tend to just use my iPhone to look up meds, etc. The combination of the iPhone with the Air works out pretty well for me.
I'm in the final year of nursing school, but I'm training to be a psychiatric nurse so not too many clinical sessions. At first I used a galaxy tab 2 10.1 but found that it was too big and heavy. Now I'm using an iPad mini, which us much better, as it's so much more portable. When I'm on the ward I usually use my iPod touch to check up on a medication.
