DISCLAIMER: This software is released as freeware solely for the purpose of demonstrating the capabilities of the Newton MessagePad. It comes with no warranty or guarantees of performance or accuracy whatsoever. All calculations that it performs should be double checked using a recognized medical reference. It may be freely distributed on any bulletin board provided that it is accompanied by this documentation. It may not be commercially redistributed on floppy disk or CD-ROM. It may not be bundled with any commercial program.
This is the first prerelease of a program that I am hopeful will eventually become a full fledged "scut" manager for busy physicians and medical students. Currently, given a Chem-7 and patient weight it will figure out free water deficit in hypernatremia, Anion Gap, Osmolality and Creatinine clearance. More formulas will be added on in the future as well as a way of permanently storing patient information in the Newton. Source code for early versions will be released as soon as I can comment it and clean it up enough so that it is not an embarrassment.
MediCalc uses the following algorhythms:
1) Osmolality = Na*2 + Glu/18 + BUN/2.8
2) Anion Gap = Na - (Cl+CO2)
3) Creatinine Clearance = [(140-age)(Weight)] / (72 x Creatinine)
4) Free Water Deficit = 0.6 x Na x Weight / 140
Normal laboratory values are given next to the entry lines. When a lab value out of normal bounds is entered the program beeps and bolds the offending text.
Things to do in next version (0.9):
• Add error checking for impossible results (i.e. negative numbers, divide by zero errors, empty strings) before exiting data entry screen.
• Strip spaces out of strings if they are accidentally entered.
• Allow user to choose pounds or kilos in data entry.
• Add my own icon.
Formulas to be added in future versions:
• ACLS and PALS algorhythms with pediatric dosage by weight calculated.
• Common pediatric med dosages and maintenance fluids.
• ABG analysis.
Things to add in future after I understand how Newton data storage "soup" works.
• Scut manager with tracking of daily vitals, weights, I/O's, CBC, Chem-7, current orders and to-do list for multiple patients.
• Ability to beam patient info to/from another Newton for patient check out.
• Newton generated flow sheets (graphs?) for labs.
Please send your comments and suggestions to me at:
