What is GuineaTRACKER?

GuineaTRACKER is a Palm application that assists medical students and physicians in tracking their patients.  It stores patient data such as laboratory values, history/physical data, problem lists, plan, and to do lists.  Users can share their patient data by simply beaming the patient record to the other user's Palm.

• Friendly, easy-to-use interface.
• Storage of detailed patient data including laboratory values, demographic information, imaging studies, histories, to do lists, physicals, assessments, plans, personal notes and much more.
• Option to define how patients are classified (e.g., hospital, clinic, etc.) and ability to view patients in a particular class.
• All patient data fields are optional.  Use GuineaTRACKER to keep incredibly verbose data, or simply use it to store your hospital census for morning rounds.
• At-a-glance lab viewing (CBC and chemistry panels appear on a summary screen).
• Beaming of patient record to other GuineaTRACKER users.
• To do list has a reminder option that will activate the Palm's alarm system.
• Personal notes and imaging studies have a scratchpad which allows freehand sketching.
• 30 day demo version is not crippled in any way. 

How is GuineaTRACKER different from other patient trackers?

I tried a number of different patient trackers but never really found one that had everything I wanted.  While most of them were good programs, I wanted a patient tracker that was based on one simple principle: Quick, at-a-glance data presentation.  What does this mean?  Let me give you an example.  With other programs I tried, hematology and chemistry laboratory values were stored on different pages so you could look at them simultaneously and get the "big picture."  With GuineaTRACKER, you have a "Lab Summary" page which lists the basic CBC and chemistry panel so that you can quick access to the "big picture."  

Finally, GuineaTRACKER is considerably cheaper than most other patient trackers.  I am a medical student myself and resultantly very poor *grin* as are many of my classmates.  My goal with this software was to produce a program that was quick and easy to write and. most importantly, affordable for medical students and residents. 

How do I install GuineaTRACKER?

Simple.  Unzip the demo version and simply install the G-Tracker.PRC onto your Palm.  After that, you're ready to go!

The lab setup is different than most other patient trackers.  What is "Quick Labs?"

When I'm on the wards and I'm following a dozen patients, I print all of their labwork out at once from a hospital computer.  This gives me a nice big stack of papers to carry around.  Other patient trackers would required you load each patient, add new labs, exit the patient, load a different patient, add their labs, exit, etc. etc.  I designed GuineaTRACKER to have a feature called "Quick Labs" in which the laboratory database is stored completely separate from the patient data (but still accessible from the patient database, of course).  So with GuineaTRACKER, on the lab screen you can add labs for any patient in your database.  What this means is that you just need to keep tapping "New Labs" and using the pulldown selector to select the patient.  Then away you go!  You can enter your lab data for all your patients at one sitting without having to bounce around patient databases!  This has an important implication for beaming data (see below).  With Quick Labs, GuineaTRACKER saves you taps and time!

Finally, GuineaTRACKER also has great at-a-glance lab viewing (mentioned above in the features section).

Can I beam data to other users?

Yes!  There are two ways to beam information.  You can select to beam laboratory data or patient data.  Why two separate ways?  With some patient trackers, when you beam patient data you run the risk of wiping out the data the other user might already have on that patient!  Needless to say, they wouldn't appreciate that very much.  So with GuineaTRACKER, you can opt to just beam laboratory data if you wish so that your colleague's data on assessment, plan, etc. are left intact.  To beam patient data, select the beam icon at the top of the screen on the patient data screen.  To beam laboratory data, select the beam icon at the top of the screen on the lab summary screen.  A general rule-of-thumb to remember is that beaming from the patient data screen sends all patient data (history, physical, assessment, plans, etc. with the exception of labs) while beaming from the laboratory screen sends the current laboratory data (with no history, physical, etc.).

When I'm drawing in a scratchpad, how do I erase what I've drawn.

If you shift (upstroke in the graffitti area), the pen becomes an eraser.  Simply draw over what you've drawn and watch as your sketch disappears.

Can I run Palm Hacks while using GuineaTRACKER?

You can try.  But if GuineaTRACKER begins acting odd, turn your hacks off and try again (this applies to any and all software, not just the GuineaSOFT line of products).

How do I register?

Visit our REGISTRATION page for more information!

If I register, will I lose all the data I've entered already?

No.