Crossing the Clinical Chasm From the Backpack to the Palm

Wake Area Health Education Center's RN Refresher program is designed to return RNs to practice. The purpose of this project was to focus on the use of the personal digital assistant (PDA) as a strategy to expedite the student's orientation to the clinical area. Nursing and library staff collaborated to research and purchase PDAs, along with clinical reference software, and provided these tools to RN Refresher students prior to the clinical practicum. Overall, students believed that the instruction was effective and were more comfortable with handheld computers. They also identified the most helpful software.