In order to maximize caregiving and minimize time spent on recordkeeping, every full-time Visiting Nurse at VNA Home Health Systems in Santa Ana, California is receiving her own personal digital assistant (pda) specially programmed with in-depth clinical information and easy-to-use electronic nursing forms.

The personal digital assistant program is intended to make nursing more appealing by addressing two of nurses' biggest complaints about nursing: too much time filling out endless forms and not enough time spent with patients. Nurses are experiencing widespread job dissatisfaction as indicated by a major new study from the University of Pennsylvania which found that one in three US nurses under the age of 30 is planning to leave his or her job in the coming year.

VNA Home Health Systems in Santa Ana, a non-profit community-based organization established in 1947, is one of the first home healthcare organizations in the nation to develop and utilize over-the-counter handheld digital technologies to give nurses more time to nurse. 35 Visiting Nurses are now using a personal digital assistant with all full-time clinicians to be phased in over the next quarter.

It takes a strong head and a big heart to be a Visiting Nurse -- the ability to think quickly and sensitively in unfamiliar circumstances. Caring for an average of five to seven homebound, elderly, chronically ill, just home from the hospital, or terminally ill patients each day also creates a lot of recordkeeping.