Archive for the ‘Best’ Category

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Which Smartphone Will Own the Health Market?

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Chris Thorman

Chris Thorman from softwareadvice referred me to his new online survey that he recently posted here. The survey starts with this statement; The smartphone industry is on fire. iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre and Google are all in the hunt for dominance. We want to know one thing: Which phone will become the device of choice for healthcare providers?

In that survey he’s asking what type of mobile device health care professionals are using and for what purpose.

However, I may disagree with the question itself. Because there will be no winner in the near future. They are all good and they are all competing with each other and adding more and more features day after day. Have a look at the best PDA device for pediatricians article in Pda4peds. It’s difficult to say that any of Google, Microsoft, Apple, Palm, or RIM will ever win our hearts!

Nonetheless, this survey could give us a clue about the current point prevalence in the Smartphone market and It would be interesting to see the results.

Posted in All, Best, News | No Comments »

Skyscape Medalerts, a great free service

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

If you have a look at the current voting results of the Best Free PDA application poll on Pda4peds you see that Skyscape’s MedAlerts ranks the second best.

This post is to revisit this cool free service from Skyscape, specially with the latest improvements that we noticed.

Here’s how it looks on Windows Mobile;

One of the most important enhancement recently added to MedAlerts is the push notifications. So that not only when we dock and synchronize the device we get the latest news but also these feeds can be pushed into the device if we choose to do so [as seen on the screenshots above].

The app will find your internet connection whether it’s Wifi or 3G and get you the news right in.

Another new feature recently added, is the option to send the news to our friends via email. A new small email icon now appears next to the title [circled in red in the screenshot above] which if tapped will allow us to choose the email addresses that we want to send the news to.

As we mentioned before, Skyscape MedAlerts can be totally specialty specific by choosing from the list in the Skyscape/my account page and it installs with a free desktop version.

Further detailed reviews of MedAlerts on Pocket PC and MedAlerts on iPhone are available on Pda4peds.

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Posted in All, Best, Free, Pediatric RSS, Updates, and Alerts | No Comments »

The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

The original paper back of the Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy has been one of the most popular infectious disease references for a long time since the early seventies.

The Sanford Guide

The PDA version is supplied by USBMIS and no other developer ever seems to have the copyright. In fact, SG has been the hallmark that distinguished USBMIS from the beginning.

So here’s how it looks;

As we can see above, the home screen has two major portals either a direct search or a link to the table of contents.

The reference is updated annually and it includes all the detailed information that we ever dreamed to have about antibiotics with relevant clinical applications.

Ever wondered what antibiotics work on Gram positive microorganisms or ever thought what the spectrum of use of Macrolides! Puzzle no more, The Sanford Guide delivers these tips and valuable info in a spoon feeding style.

Pediatric dosages, immunizations, recommended empirical therapy, prophylaxis, drug interactions, and much more, you name it.

They recently added a great feature called Inter Linking which is exactly like Skyscape’s Smart linking technology which will make the purchase of their titles synergistic as we can link the keywords across the different installed titles. They even started marketing a bundle of three titles under the name of Interlinking.

The USBMIS website lists only a Blackberry version, but don’t be fooled by that, just register and start the purchase process and you will be then asked which platform you’d prefer including Palm and Windows Mobile. Or else, if you don’t feel comfortable with just go to the Sanford Guide Website and purchase it from there directly, you will get exactly the same USBMIS app that will be synced with USBMIS servers.

One wish we have to make is the availability of such a lovely application on the iPhone.

The Sanford is certainly the best of its kind and we wonder how the Red Book is still rated as the best on the Pda4peds Best AntiBiotics app vote!

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Posted in All, Best, Drug Guides | No Comments »

App Store Top medical free and paid Lists are Incorrect!

Monday, February 9th, 2009

As we previously mentioned that Apple finally understood that there are so many medical apps and medical users of iPhone and iPod Touch so they created the new medical category.

What’s interesting is that we can keep track of the most commonly downloaded apps in this category whether they are free or paid right from the device app store or in iTunes;

However, the list of free apps is inherently incorrect because these developers like Skyscape, Epocrates, and Unbound Medicine provide free mini or demo versions of their actual content.

For example; Epocrates free version only includes Rx and if you need the full Essentials package then you must subscribe through their website. Likewise, Skyscape Medical Resources includes a small number of free goodies but if you want more titles then you’d have to purchase them from Skyscape’s website. Similarly, Unbound Medicine is offering just a template of the product on which you can download the content if you are a current subscriber.

The only ‘big’ company that offers a fully functional paid app is Lexi-Comp via their different suites including the Pediatric suite. But, this is arguably a bad marketing model because people may get intimidated by the price if they don’t actually see the wonders inside.

So the top free list [and consequently the top paid list] is Incorrect because we don’t know how many users who have downloaded those free apps have actually paid and subscribed to the full version and so they should be counted in the paid list.

Another problem with the list [we mentioned that previously] is that the inclusion criteria of these apps into the medical category are not very strict. So the top paid app “Eye Test” is very unlikely that it has been downloaded by medical professionals, it is most probably downloaded by non-medical people because of it’s nature.

So two recommendations to the people of App Store:

First, ask these developers to make two versions of their apps, one free and the another full PRO version.

Second, edit the medical category and remove those apps that share common interest and put them in their old category [Health and Fitness].

Lastly, if you want to know what is the pediatric ranking of the large native iPhone apps then you may participate in the Best Native Pediatric Apps on Pda4peds.

[Update 3-18-2009], the new iPhone OS 3.0 comes with a new SDK that allows In App Purchase and Apple will likely ask the developers to apply this new technology and there will be no more subscriptions via the developer’s website only through iTunes store. Read related post.

Posted in All, Best, Free, Opinions, iPhone | 6 Comments »

The Pediatric Care Online (Part 1 of 2)

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

We have been waiting for a such a complete and integrated PDA resource from the AAP for a while, and finally they made it and it’e here The Pediatric Care Online [PCO].

As the name implies this is designed to reside online which means frequent updates, interactive contents, universal platform, access anywhere, and an electronically delivered digital resource that matches the transformation into the IT era of today’s medicine and pediatrics.

Sponsored by Mead Johnson and is available for AAP members at a rate of $250 and for non members for $290 yearly subscription a price that may seem to be on the expensive side but when we consider the number of resources it includes the price might be reasonable.

Fortunately a free trial from Mead Johnson check this link is available:

  • Three months for pediatricians
  • One year for pediatric residents

PCO encompasses a number of excellent resources and references that are all evidence based and authenticated content right from the governor of our practice the American Academy of Pediatrics.

As it is the most common and arguably the most important PDA function; it included a pediatric drug look up and this time from the highly trusted Lexi database [It is also the drug reference of UpTodate]. The drug guide is integrated and fits well into the rest of software and it is even better than the original Pediatric Lexi Drugs! However, it should have included a built-in calculator and an interaction analyzer to be complete. Also included is a section of antimicrobial therapy which is an extract from the Textbook and provides a focused pediatric antibiotic guide.

The collection also sports a reference in the form of AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care, a News and Updates service, a quick reference tool, Bright Futures, and other resources. For a detailed review of all of these  check out the Pediatric Care Online pda4peds review.

Once installed on the PDA you can feel the Unbound Medicine touches throughout the website and the PDA interfaces such as the automatic updates upon synchronization.

This online server link not only updates the content but also updates “myPCO” an online library where search keywords executed on the PDA are transferred and listed there. This is a popular Unbound Medicine technology that has been there since the days of CogniQ Peds. However, that would be much more useful if it is complemented with an online search that can actually be executed on the PDA via wireless connection. This last point is also applicable to related content links which in the native PDA version do not link to the online links it is just said “more content available online”. The search function is much better on the wireless version [To be dicussed in Part 2].

The native PDA version is missing several of the features available in the Web and Wireless versions these are:

Probably they omitted these sections so as to avoid a drastic growth in the size of the PDA program [currently 6 MB only] but that can be true only for the reference and images while the other sections listed will not consume lots of MBs because they are simply links to external online resources. They could have easily included these and the visual library in the form of links to external pages.

The PCO could have been fantastic if they added the following:

  • a labs reference, a multifunctional PDA program is NOT complete without this.
  • a DDx analyzer , the Signs and Symptoms search section only lists causes that are mentioned in the quick reference and there’s no multiple symptoms analysis tool.
  • a journal access, this is a copyright issue of course but at least listing the TOC of the several AAP periodicals that we all crave for.
  • a CME tool: The AAP already have great resource in the form of Prep Audio but it would have been nice if CME is collected ‘in-house’ as we are going to use this tool often, check EE+ for such a CME solution.
  • and a drug interaction tool; they could have added the Lexi-Interact tool to the collection and if that doesn’t work on the Unbound Medicine platform then they could have added the Drug Interaction Facts already developed by Unbound Medicine.

These shortcomings may be rectified by us in the future as The Pediatric Care Online is supposed to be community driven and they welcome comments and suggestion sent to pco@aap.org

to be continued in Part 2 …

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, Best, Evidence Based Pediatrics | 2 Comments »

The AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Finally a textbook from the AAP; it has been feeling awkward to refer to Nelson or Forfar when we pediatricians want to check on a trusted pediatric reference!

The American Academy of Pediatrics as a regulator and as a national symbol of pediatric care would have to come up with a reference for all pediatricians and finally it’s here.

What’s interesting here is that the book was made available for the PDA/wireless/Web even before the print edition was released! As of the time this post was written Amazon did not release it and is scheduled for release in November. This reflects the fact that it’s essentially designed for electronic use rather than a traditional paper textbook and also means that the AAP is determined to make serious steps towards the transformation of pediatric literature into the electronic format matching the 21st century digital era.

The textbook is packed within the Pediatric Care Online [PCO] which contains a number of other great resources and references for the pediatrician and is the product of AAP content plus Unbound Medicine development.

The AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care is available through the online and wireless version of PCO and is not yet available for the native PDA software.

The textbook looks like this on a Windows Mobile screen using Internet Explorer Mobile to log in to http://pediatriccareonline.org and then working on AAP Textbook

The Textbook is composed of 10 Parts and 361 Chapters covering Pediatrics from A to Z. Even a chapter on Online resources and the use of PDAs in clinical pediatrics. Each topic is followed by a wonderful When to refer and When to admit sections specifically targeting and guiding primary care providers and junior peds but it is also styled in a format that is useful to any pediatrician regardless of the practice setting.

It is so detailed that the AAP decided to make a summerized version for the PDA platform and correctly named Point-of-Care Quick Reference to make it easy for us finding the required information.

It is also rich in guidelines and chapters are followed by live links AAP policy statements when relevant and being an electronic reference it will be frequently updated as new guidelines are added or changed. Not only AAP contents links but also CDC, FDA, and Pub Med live links making it an incredible evidence based pediatric resource.

As part of PCO it is also cross linked to Bright Futures and Pediatric Lexi Drugs making it even more comprehensive and a reference where you can find all answers.

The price for the print edition alone is $165 you can buy it from Amazon here and for the online version is $250 [members] and $290 [non-members] and if you want both then the price is $350.

This is undoubtedly the ultimate pediatric reference and a must have resource for every practicing pediatrician.

Check out AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care pda4peds review and you may also vote for it in the Best Pediatric PDA Reference poll.

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Posted in All, Best, Evidence Based Pediatrics, References & ebooks | 5 Comments »

The AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Finally a textbook from the AAP; it has been feeling awkward to refer to Nelson or Forfar when we pediatricians want to check on a trusted pediatric reference!

The American Academy of Pediatrics as a regulator and as a national symbol of pediatric care would have to come up with a reference for all pediatricians and finally it’s here.

What’s interesting here is that the book was made available for the PDA/wireless/Web even before the print edition was released! As of the time this post was written Amazon did not release it and is scheduled for release in November. This reflects the fact that it’s essentially designed for electronic use rather than a traditional paper textbook and also means that the AAP is determined to make serious steps towards the transformation of pediatric literature into the electronic format matching the 21st century digital era.

The textbook is packed within the Pediatric Care Online [PCO] which contains a number of other great resources and references for the pediatrician and is the product of AAP content plus Unbound Medicine development.

The AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care is available through the online and wireless version of PCO and is not yet available for the native PDA software.

The textbook looks like this on a Windows Mobile screen using Internet Explorer Mobile to log in to http://pediatriccareonline.org and then working on AAP Textbook

The Textbook is composed of 10 Parts and 361 Chapters covering Pediatrics from A to Z. Even a chapter on Online resources and the use of PDAs in clinical pediatrics. Each topic is followed by a wonderful When to refer and When to admit sections specifically targeting and guiding primary care providers and junior peds but it is also styled in a format that is useful to any pediatrician regardless of the practice setting.

It is so detailed that the AAP decided to make a summerized version for the PDA platform and correctly named Point-of-Care Quick Reference to make it easy for us finding the required information.

It is also rich in guidelines and chapters are followed by live links AAP policy statements when relevant and being an electronic reference it will be frequently updated as new guidelines are added or changed. Not only AAP contents links but also CDC, FDA, and Pub Med live links making it an incredible evidence based pediatric resource.

As part of PCO it is also cross linked to Bright Futures and Pediatric Lexi Drugs making it even more comprehensive and a reference where you can find all answers.

The price for the print edition alone is $165 you can buy it from Amazon here and for the online version is $250 [members] and $290 [non-members] and if you want both then the price is $350.

This is undoubtedly the ultimate pediatric reference and a must have resource for every practicing pediatrician.

Check out AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care pda4peds review and you may also vote for it in the Best Pediatric PDA Reference poll.

Tags: ,
Posted in All, Best, Evidence Based Pediatrics, References & ebooks | 4 Comments »

The Fantastic Six

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Many pediatric colleagues ask this question: What could be the best reference that I can ever have on my PDA?

To answer this question we must really pay attention to the word reference and the list of available pediatric references can be checked on that pda4peds category and you can vote for your best also. So what we are talking here is resources that you can use to replace your traditional textbooks.

But I wanted to mention here a special list of PDA resources that are really huge resources and can be relied on whenever a “textbook” is to be cross referenced.

The largest six [pediatric-useful] resources on the PDA are:

  1. UpToDate: this is untoubtedly the largest database ever available for the handheld and it’s obvious from it’s memory size “around 1 GB”.
  2. Pepid: This could be the most power ER reference available for our pediatric needs.
  3. Pedisuite: A database of all the common diseases and conditions discussed and presented in a user friendly format. Note that as of the date of this post Pedsuite ranks highest on pda4peds best all-in-one application poll.
  4. Essential Evidence +: Previously known as INFOPOEM as another great database oriented for primary physicians but these people share a lot of pediatric practice and it is really useful for the pediatrician.
  5. eMedicine: This could be the dream resource BUT unfortunately they discontinued the individual subscription option and is only accessible now by institutions through their imedicine website.
  6. Dynamed: Is the ideal example of an evidence based resource with huge collection of articles and drug index.

You would probably ask why Epocrates and Skyscape are dropped from the list and the answer is; for Epocrates their primary resource is the Epocrates Dx which is a good reference for quick access but not as vast as those mentioned above. In the case of Skyscape then the problem is that their resources are fragmented, in other words you don’t have a single title that encompasses all the knowledge base needed for the pediatrician and so it can not be regarded as a single fantastic resource and even their pediatric constillation is still shortcoming compared to those listed above. Skyscape and Epocrates are great PDA tools but when a pediatrician wants to check on a “textbook” then probably the six listed above are more satisfying.

Posted in All, Best, Opinions, References & ebooks | No Comments »

The Fantastic Six

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Many pediatric colleagues ask this question: What could be the best reference that I can ever have on my PDA?

To answer this question we must really pay attention to the word reference and the list of available pediatric references can be checked on that pda4peds category and you can vote for your best also. So what we are talking here is resources that you can use to replace your traditional textbooks.

But I wanted to mention here a special list of PDA resources that are really huge resources and can be relied on whenever a “textbook” is to be cross referenced.

The largest six [pediatric-useful] resources on the PDA are:

  1. UpToDate: this is untoubtedly the largest database ever available for the handheld and it’s obvious from it’s memory size “around 1 GB”.
  2. Pepid: This could be the most power ER reference available for our pediatric needs.
  3. Pedisuite: A database of all the common diseases and conditions discussed and presented in a user friendly format. Note that as of the date of this post Pedsuite ranks highest on pda4peds best all-in-one application poll.
  4. Essential Evidence +: Previously known as INFOPOEM as another great database oriented for primary physicians but these people share a lot of pediatric practice and it is really useful for the pediatrician.
  5. eMedicine: This could be the dream resource BUT unfortunately they discontinued the individual subscription option and is only accessible now by institutions through their imedicine website.
  6. Dynamed: Is the ideal example of an evidence based resource with huge collection of articles and drug index.

You would probably ask why Epocrates and Skyscape are dropped from the list and the answer is; for Epocrates their primary resource is the Epocrates Dx which is a good reference for quick access but not as vast as those mentioned above. In the case of Skyscape then the problem is that their resources are fragmented, in other words you don’t have a single title that encompasses all the knowledge base needed for the pediatrician and so it can not be regarded as a single fantastic resource and even their pediatric constillation is still shortcoming compared to those listed above. Skyscape and Epocrates are great PDA tools but when a pediatrician wants to check on a “textbook” then probably the six listed above are more satisfying.

Posted in All, Best, Opinions, References & ebooks | No Comments »

iPhone Vs Palm Vs Windows Mobile

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

We used to compare Palm to Windows Mobile now with the arrival of the iPhone with its new SDK that allow developers to create medical applications for the iPhone then it could be a good idea to compare the three systems.

Windows Mobile & iPod Touch

Pda4peds posted a new article in which there is a table that compare the three feature by feature and each system gets a score out of 10 for each feature.

The total results were as follows:

  • Windows Mobile scored 141
  • Palm scored 134
  • iPhone scored 126

These scores represents a clear winning gap for the Pocket PC, but remeber things are changing fast, a couple of months ago we wouldn’t dare to compare the iPhone to the old timers but now it is comparable and with the rising number of the list of pediatric iPhone applications those scores will likely change in the near future.

Have your say and vote for what you think is the best of all these three systems and check out the results.

Posted in All, Best, Pda4peds News, iPhone | No Comments »

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