News Reporters

 NEWSPAPER REPORTERS gather and analyze
facts about current events through interviews, investigations, or
observations and write stories describing the events, background, meaning,
and effects.  They are assigned breaking news developments such as
disasters, crime, and human interest.  They take notes and put it in their hand-held PC, or use a tape
recorder while covering a story.
Hand-held computers are convenient to many news reporters because instead of writing their reports to papers with the use of pen they will just
input it to their hand held computers.Handheld computers allow writing.
Some can recognize handwriting some of  the time, and this is a tremendous achievement given the handwriting
of news reporters. But the fastest and most reliable way to write is using a 
slightly modified alphabet without joining up the letters. This may not
be as fast as writing on paper, but it will be legible and  improve their writing on paper 
after using a handheld computer.

Reporters usually return to the office to write copy on a computer.  As
Reporters type their copy, it can appear simultaneously on their screen and
the editor's terminal screen, or the story can be sent to the editor after
it has been polished.  From the editor, it is transmitted to the composing
room computer which produces the story.  Sometimes, to meet deadlines,
reporters deliver their news story over the telephone or use portable
computers to enter the story which is then sent by modem directly to the
newspaper's computer system.

Although electronic technology has brought change to the newspaper office,
it has not diminished the need for reporters.  Automation has eliminated the
legendary clamor of the large news room in favor of a more high-tech
information producing operations.

Because computers have become smaller, easier to use and cheaper,
 it's no surprise that handheld versions now accompany many news reporters.
And yet, these portable devices have not become as common as bulkier desktop models.

Reporters work both indoors and outdoors, dealing with all kinds of people.
They may work for long periods on unproductive leads.  Editors have the
option of revising, shortening, or deleting their stories from the newspaper through their hand-held
computers.

A doctor (general practitioner)

What do drug dealers and doctors have in common? From the 1980s onwards neither could do their job without a pager. Only by carrying a pager can junior doctors leave their wards, safe in the knowledge that they would be paged about their patients’ needs. The same junior doctors also feel safer knowing that they can page their senior at any time to get advice and support. And of course the code blue message on pagers is essential to the ability of the cardiac arrest team to respond quickly wherever its individual members are dispersed in the hospital.

Handheld computers promise an even bigger qualitative contribution to clinical workflow. Not only can you use a handheld computer to do your clinical work faster and better than before, you can do some things that colleagues without these devices are simply incapable of doing.

WHAT IS A HANDHELD COMPUTER?

A handheld computer is a computer small enough to hold in your hand or fit into your coat pocket. It is often called a ‘personal digital assistant’ (PDA). Some handheld computers also have phone features, enabling the owner to make and receive phone calls—they are called smartphones.

Of all the computer devices, handheld computers are possibly the most appropriate for clinical practice.
However, this changed with the arrival of handheld computers. Doctors are regularly buying them in order to improve patient care—even before their IT departments decided to make the investment. Healthcare computing professionals around the world are delighted that the clinicians now care passionately about computing resources because of PDAs and smartphones.

The hand-helds portability. The devices are small enough to carry everywhere, including from ward rounds to patients’ homes, and lecture to libraries.

Battery life makes the portability qualitatively different from laptops or tablet PCs. Most handheld computers are usable over 2 days of clinical work—few laptops or tablet PCs can last 3 hours without requiring recharging. The efficiency of the battery still supports speed. Laptops and tablet PCs preserve battery life by switching to ‘standby’ or ‘hibernation’ modes after a few minutes without use. The former means the computer will take several seconds to respond, while up to a minute is necessary to use a computer that is in hibernation mode. By contrast, a handheld computer instantly works no matter how long it has been since you last used it. This is necessary for the continuous interruption environment of ward rounds.

In fact, computer departments of healthcare institutions around the world are making such investments.

RESOURCES:: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1275996/