MedCalc 3000 Windows CE / Pocket PC Version

MedCalc 3000, the most popular web based medical calculator is now available for use in handheld Windows CE operating system devices. This CE version of MedCalc 3000 will work on many CE devices such as the HP Jornada and Compaq iPaq Pocket PC's. Your handheld device must have a JavaScript capable version of Pocket Internet Explorer, as most modern Pocket PC's currently do. The system may be installed to a memory card if you don't have suffcient main memory (MedCalc 3000 requires about 2.2 MB of memory.) Below are some screenshots and examples of the system in action:

Using MedCalc 3000 on Your Handheld

After a simple installation process, the MedCalc 3000 system will appear in your handheld's main applications page ready for use. When you tap on the icon to start the system, you will see the opening screen illustrated on the right.

The upper part of the screen holds links to the Equations and Clinical Criteria menus. Tap the MedCalc 3000 logo to bring you back to this introductory screen.

Equation Example

If you tap the "Equations" link on the screen above, you will be taken to the equations menu you see on the left. You can pan up and down the list using the scroll bars or hardware button that may be available on your handheld. You may also jump to a specific section of equations by tapping a letter of the alphabet.

For the example below we will tap the equation called A-a Gradient, a commonly used equation in pulmonary and critical care medicine.

A screenshot of the A-a Gradient equation is illustrated on the right. The actual equation is shown in a highlighted area, and it is quite obvious that this is not an easy equation to accurately remember! Below the equation are a series of input boxes that allow the user to input pertinant parameters. Some default parameters are pre-entered in this particular equation, but the user can easily change these at the time of calculation.

To the right of the input boxes is a feature unique to medical calculators: the ability to instantly change the unit values of the input parameters. In this equation, the user might input the FIO2 (fraction inspired oxygen) in either actual percentage or in liters of oxygen administered per canula.

To input the parameter values you simply tap the input box to bring up the input pad. In this CE device the input pad is a keyboard touchpad. You free to use any CE based input pad with the MedCalc 3000 system.

When all of the input boxes are entered you simply press the "Calculate / Recalculate" button to yield the answer in the last text box. In this case, the A-a Gradient is normal at 9.7 mmHg.

If you want to see potential results with other input parameters simply change the parameter and hit the "Calculate / Recalculate" button again. This is an excellent mechanism to explore various "what if" situations commonly considered in clinical medicine and on teaching rounds.

Criteria Set Example

To the left is the Clinical Criteria Sets menu. To get there just tap the Criteria link at the top of the screen. If you pan down or jump to the "C" section you can bring up the "Community Aquired Pnemonia Severity Scale" illustrated in the next panel.

This Clinical Criteria Set helps the clinician determine the severity of pneumonia based a a variety of parameters such as patient age, and a wide variety of clinical signs / lab test results.

You enter each of these by tapping selector buttons, or using the text input mechanism for items such as patient age. There are many parameters in this set so you must pan down to see the entire page.

This patient is relatively sick with a variety of co-existing medical conditions as indicated. Though we input significant clinical details, there is no mechanism to enter patient identifying information.

The MedCalc 3000 system never collects patient identifying information. This is the best way to protect patient privacy.

This patient is indeed quite ill. The total score is automatically calculated while the data is being entered. The system shows you the total score and then a table that explains the meaning of this score. In this case, a score of 152 points indicates that the patient is in severity class 5 with a mortality risk of 27%

Perhaps this kind of Evidence Based Medicine will help clinicians identify the sickest patients earlier, and with hope, reduce that mortality figure through more aggressive and earlier medical intervention.