MedCalc 3000 Palm Version

MedCalc 3000, the most popular web based medical calculator is now available for use in handheld Palm operating system devices. 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 Palm's main applications page ready for use. When you tap the icon to start the system, you will see the opening screen illustrated on the right.

All of the available equations and clinical criteria sets are listed alphabetically. You can also narrow the list by choosing a specific catagory of equations and criteria sets using the pull-down menu in the upper right portion of the screen.

Equation Example

To the left you see the result if you choose the catagory "Pulmonary." To use a specific equation or clinical criteria set you just tap on the item in the main window.

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

The screen shot below illustrates the main input area for the A-a Gradient calculation.

Several of the common, relatively constant values such as atmospheric pressure, have already been pre-entered. To enter the patient's Oxygen level, you must tap your stylus to the right of "P_aO2 <-" The "<-" symbol indicates that you must enter a value for the equation to work. This input system is common to all of the equations and criteria sets. If an input area is left blank, no results can be calculated.

After you have indicated the input area of interest, simply turn your stylus to the Grafitti decimal entry area of your Palm (on the right side of the writing area), and enter the value. You must enter the value in the units specified at the start of the input line. In this case, P_aO2 must be entered in mmHg (the most common unit used for oxygen tension in clinical medicine.)

When all of the required parameters have been entered, tap the "Solve" button to produce this screen. 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 "Solve" 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

Here is an example of a useful clinical criteria set used in the assessment of Community Acquired Pneumonia.

This 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 the input areas (marked by "<-"), and using the decimal Grafitti input mechanism for all items. There are many parameters in this set so you must pan down to see the entire page.

Many of the criteria have yes / no type responses but the the MedCalc 3000 Palm version can accept only decimal entries. As illustrated, this patient has congestive heart failure, so we entered a "1." Since the patient has no renal disease we entered a 0. You will notice that the parameters are numbered c1, c2, c3, etc . . . This is for internal system use only.

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 when you tap the "Solve" button. If you fail to input a criteria, no result will be displayed. The system shows you the total score and then a table that explains the meaning of this score. In this case, a score of 163 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.