Portable computing in psychiatry.

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) or handheld computers have become more popular in the practice of medicine. These devices have implications for psychiatric practice, and this paper reviews various published articles describing their use. The literature demonstrates their use in document editing, patient tracking, accessing medical information and drug reference guides, prescription writing, and medical education. Security on these devices is covered, and the value and increasing implementation of PDAs in psychiatry is discussed.