A day in the life of a nurse with an iPhone

For more than 13 years, I have used a variety of handheld devices at the point-of-care that have helped me deliver better, safer evidence-based nursing and advanced practice nursing care. In a previous article I discussed my many years of using Palm devices and my eventual migration to the iPhone in the past year.

I’m often asked by nursing and medical colleagues exactly how these devices help me deliver better and safer care. I prefer to think of my iPhone and other similar handheld devices as my “ectopic brain.” My original in-situ brain often works well and even surprises me at times with what I’m able to recall in the heat of the moment. But at other times it starts to show its age and grinds along like a rusty contraption on its last legs. My “ectopic brain” is always there to help bail me out.

My day typically begins at 0700 with the blaring iPhone alarm. I get up to make sure my girls are up and getting ready for school. I log onto the Internet through my iPhone using the Safari app and check my local newspaper and television station for breaking stories. I check my e-mail through the iPhone—mostly junk, but a few important ones sneak through. They are either filed to their respective folders or responded to and then filed.

Over breakfast, I click on the Facebook icon and see what my friends from around the world are up to. By now I’ve gotten a few text messages and have responded back. The rest of the morning is spent reading e-mails, responding to texts, updating my cache of memos using the Memos app to assist me at my job as Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in my busy community emergency department.

I also click on CalenGoo, the app that syncs with my Google Web-based calendar, to check my schedule of events for the day and next several days.

Other useful apps –>