Student PDAs, as are all PDAs, are organized based on individual preference. Librarians provide help in setting up and organizing the intelligent information agents and tailoring the knowledge organization environment. Faculty meet regularly with small groups of students to facilitate the largely self-directed learning processing. Nursing, pharmacy, medical, dental, public health and social work students study together in teams which mirrors the increasingly team- oriented approach to education, research and clinical practice. Physicians and nurses prepare tailored multi-media packages to meet the unique education and health management needs of their patients.
Patients have PDAs which can be used to contact clinicians for assistance and advice.
Their uniform patient numbers are recognized by healthcare facilities nationally. A complete copy of their medical record is available at a central data repository and is accessible to all clinicians nationwide as a result of the use of standard data encoding techniques. Appropriate security safeguards are in place. With the shift from treatment to prevention, a good deal of effort has gone into empowering consumers with appropriate information. PDAs provide nutritional and treatment advice as well as individual health monitoring functions.