Nursing Central is similar to the previously reviewed Medicine Central, but with Nursing titles replacing the medical ones and a dictionary. Like Medicine Central it can be accessed as a PDA download or on the Web using a PC or a wireless device like Blackberry or Treo.
Nursing Central is built around the idea that the most frequently asked questions are about diseases, tests, and drugs. The core disease text is Diseases and Disorders: A Nursing Therapeutics Manual, Davis’s Comprehensive Handbook of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications and Davis’s Drug Guide provide test and drug information respectively. Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary is a nice addition. It is evident that Unbound Medicine felt it was important to have content written by and for nurses.
Like Medicine Central, tables of content for over 250 journals and literature alerts can be directed to your PDA when you synchronize. In addition, the same literature management toolset is included with Nursing Central and can be used on the Web to search MEDLINE, browse tables of contents, or review saved articles and search results in the “Archive”. The default tables of contents alerts reflect nursing titles such as AJIC, AJN and RN.
MEDLINE searching from your Treo, BlackBerry or other internet enabled mobile device is via a simple and intuitive interface. It is nice to see that Unbound Medicine believes nurses consult the literature. Unbound Medicine provides two MEDLINE interfaces; a classic interface for keyword, author and journal searches; and a clinical interface (searches filtered by Therapy, Diagnosis, Etiology and Prognosis).
Nursing Central is a unique and powerful nursing tool. If you want to see how it works, give it a test drive compliments of the “Open House” available at http://www.unboundmedicine.com/nursing_central_open_house.htm. You don’t need to register to see the content and functionality of the program on the Web. Download a trial version to your PDA to see Unbound Medicine’s clean and intuitive implementation.