Posts Tagged ‘Epocrates’

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Epocrates, Finally a built-in iPhone app

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

One of the major reasons that I used to tell my colleagues (read this article) why not to switch to the iPhone is that it doesn’t accept third party applications and therefore we have to use Palm or Windows Mobile devices in order to install those medical porgrams that we all crave for.

Now that has changed, Apple finally opened up the iPhone platform for developers and Epocrates is the first ever medical application that is available for the iPhone.

However there is a caveat here, this is not the full Epocrates Essentials package this is only Epocrates Rx. However there are great pros here:

  • Once they started with Rx it means that they will soon add the Dx, and Sx and other features of the Essentials.
  • There is Pill ID pictures which is missing from the other PDA version.
  • The application is 100% free download from iTunes store. However I’ve received some emails from the Middle East and they are frustrated over there because iTunes is not available worldwide!

If you used Epocrates Rx on your Iphone and you really liked please vote for it as the best pediatric iphone application.

Make no mistake about it, iPhone is going to be the next device that physicians holding in hospital corridors (after years of domination by Palm and Windows Mobile).

iPhone.. Welcome to our world

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Posted in All, Drug Guides, Free, News, iPhone | 8 Comments »

Epocrates no longer supports international drug names

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

We mentioned in an earlier post that Epocrates is one of the PDA drug solutions available for UK based pediatricians and some other countries.

However, they recently announced that they no longer include these trade names (See their announcement ).

This is really unfortunate for the many pediatricians who subscribed to Epocrates Rx and who are working in the UK.

We suggest that Epocrates should refund those colleagues…

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Posted in All, Drug Guides, News, UK Paediatrics | No Comments »

Squeezing the Red Book into Epocrates

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

pdaMD\'s Red Book + Epocrates

pdaMD a website that deals with medical PDA software and also a vendor of common medical applications recently launched a new offer to sell PDA devices preinstalled with a combination of the 27th edition of the AAP’s Red Book [Update 06-21-09: the new 28th edition is now available see post] and one of Epocrates bundles (Rx Pro, Essentials, or Essentials Deluxe).

It sounds great for pediatricians no doubt about it, it is a very good choice specially for those who are planning to start using the handheld in their practice now, what else do we want, the most complete multifunctional software coupled with the most trusted infectious disease reference.

pdaMD is increasingly turning to the AAP and marketing their products quite successfully recently. In fact they have a website which is offering AAP products exclusively.

However, as for me and may be for many other peds this offer might not be very tempting. Because we already have those softwares installed into our PDAs (See how common is Epocrates Essentials installed on pediatric PDAs) and the Red Book is already offered by two giants in medical softwares Skyscape and Unbound Medicine (read this post).

And what about Epocrates ID its already there in the Essentials package so are they going to give priority to the Red Book over their own infectious disease reference? perhaps not as the marketing campaign is focusing on the Rx Pro rather than Epocrates Essentials.

The issue here is that if they gave an option of only integrating the Red Book into our existing Epocrates Bundle it would have been a product to consider because then we may think that its OK lets get the Red Book right into out Epocrates (Instead of closing Epocrates and launching The Red Book).

Moreover they are offering the software in compatibility with Palm OS only and no options for Windows Mobile and that is another mistake when you want to market a PDA product nowadays.

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Posted in All, Drug Guides, News, References & ebooks, Special Offers | 4 Comments »

Epocrates – Windows Mobile Sync Problem Solved

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Recently I faced a problem when I was trying to sync my Windows Mobile 6 (HTC TyTN II, AKA AT&T Tilt and Kaiser) with the Epocrates server to install and update my Epocrates Essentials.

The sync starts normally as usual but it get stucks and hangs up at around the end of the process. Just about where the progress bar shown here in the picture the autoupdate dropps off and no more syncing!

When I go to Start>Programs>Epocrates Essentials The following message appears!

So in an attempt to resolve this problem I tried the following:

1) Uninstalled-Reinstalled : As per their instructions I uninstalled the software completely and forced a soft-reset then I downloaded the software again from my Epocrates account and re-installed it again , YET THE PROBLEM PERSISTED!

2) Disabled Anti-Virus and Firewall : One of Epocrates support agants advised me to do this, so I disabled my Windows Defender (Using Windows Xp) and my Norton Antivirus, and my Threatfire3, and my Spyware Terminator. Repeated step 1 and THAT DID NOT HELP EATHER!

3) Over The Air installation : I thought there might be a problem in their sync server, so repated step 1 then I tried to install the software via wireless connection by going to (http://get.epocrates.com) and installation went smoothly, this time no doubtful Xp problems, but again AUTOUPDATE DID NOT FINISH!

4) I thought there could be a software conflict and so what I did I completely wiped up my device (Hard reset) and repeated steps 1 and 2 and THAT DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM EITHER!

5) There is a program in HTC models called “Encryption” which encrypts files on memory card. When I unchecked this option I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO SYNC SMOOTHLY WITHOUT STALLING.

It seems that Epocarets are aware of this problem as they posted a specific support page, but they may be struggling with a solution. Recently they upgraded their software to manage memory automatically, in other words, if your main memory is not enough the software will move Rx, Dx, and Sx to your memory card and probably it is this upgrade that has caused Autoupdate to stall during syncing.

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Posted in All, Problems | No Comments »

Epocrates for the iphone , We will be waiting..

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Many of my friends and colleagues said YES that’s it we will go for the iPhone as long as Epocrates now compatible with it!

However we are still anxiously waiting for Apple to allow third party developers to make (native) iPhone software (Read this guide) and what Epocrates has done is that they just made their online free drug database to be accessed easier on the iPhone (it was accessable before but with no touch technology). See Epocrates announcement.

What about Epocrates Sx, Dx, Lab and all the wondeful tools of Epocrates Essentials, NO they are not there for the iPhone at least for the moment.

Apple’s iPhone is a phenomenal device and a revolution in the field of smartphones and if they start to embrace the medical field we will be very lucky to have the iPhone serving us not only in our personal needs with its fabulous picturing, navigation, touch technology …etc but also for our daily clinical needs..

Dear iPhone…We are waiting eagerly…

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, News, iPhone | 6 Comments »

Pediatric CME On Our PDA, Epocrates Vz Skyscape Comparison

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Both of Epocrates and Skyscape have developed a CME solution for the PDA to our liking and convenience

In this blog I attempt to compare the two programs

View Web Based Table

  Epocrates
MobileCME		 Skyscape
CME 3600
Pda4peds Review
 Click Here Click Here

Updates and Synchronization
Updates Available Available
Automatic Updates
 Yes, as part of Epocrates Autoupdate Yes, when the device is docked the Skyscape SmARTsync synchronizes with server
Frequency of Updates
 Not impressive as new items added after long periods Little better with new items added every now and then
Wireless Updates
 Possible, all Epocrates program components can be updated via wireless connection Unlike other Skyscape titles there is no way that we can update CME 360 remotely
Removal of expired and completed activities No, sometimes outdated credits still appear Yes, Specific items can be deleted

Accreditation and Certificates
Retrieval of certificates
 Yes, via email and the online account Yes, via the online account
Accreditation
 ACCME, AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ACCME, AMA PRA Category 1 Credits
Cross linking to other parts of the Epocrates program No
 No
Requesting Duplicate Certificates
 Yes, can be asked from the device itself
 No
Fees
 Free
 Free
Specialties and Content
Number of Specialties covered
 Not many (8 at the time of this review) Many (20 at the time of this review)
Pediatric-Only Option
 Yes and can be pre-selected
 Yes, but it is not pre-selected, every time you need to select pediatric
Sources
 MedPageToday, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine MedPageToday
Enjoyable Content
 Very enjoyable and relevant to clinical practice The pediatric content is not very interesting
Case Based Learning Sometimes Not seen
Literature Based Learning Yes Yes
Reviewers and Authors Mentioned Mentioned
Overview and Objectives Mentioned Mentioned
Evaluation Forms Requested at end Requested at end

Software and Interface
Device Compatibility Palm and Windows Mobile Palm and Windows Mobile
Synchronization
 Flawless
 Some problems and bugs noted on PPC platform
Vista Compatibility Yes Yes
Indexing and Search
 A find icon placed at the bottom that can search the entire CME database A look for search is placed at the bottom but it can only search titles and not the contents of each activity and there is no indexing as is the case with other Skyscape titles
Point of Care credit earning
 No, Only designated CME activities can be claimed for credits Yes, clinical questions answered using any other Skyscape title can be claimed for CME credits
Look and Colors Simple Epocrates interface Very colorful and attractive
Navigation Easy Very easy
Email Notification Yes No
Online Account Yes Yes

For a web based table click here

Personally I don’t prefer one over the other both of them are great and both of them have revolutionized the way we earn CME credits, very convenient, no need for conferences, free, right onto our Handhelds!

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Posted in All, CME, Free | No Comments »

Epocrates improved linking

Thursday, April 26th, 2007

The recent version of Epocrates Essentials included an improvement to the cross linking between their products.

Now we can link from Rx to Dx as we were able to link from Dx to Rx only in the previous versions. BUT still they need to improve the cross linking as for example many drugs and diseases mentioned in their Tables still unliked to Rx and Dx.

Watch a presentation on this issue.

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, Free, References & ebooks | No Comments »

Epocrates Mobile CME

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

The issue of losing your credit when you uninstall Epocrates Essentials (Read pda4peds review) (See Epocrates webpage) or when your subscription expires has been resolved,

Now we can access all the credits and history and even we can print certificates right from the account page in the Epocrates website; much like the way we do it in Medscape!

Read pda4peds review page on Mobile CME

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Posted in All, CME, Free | No Comments »

Epocrates Essentials Deluxe

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

Here comes another offer from Epocrates, the Epocrates Essentials Deluxe..

In addition to the superb package of Epocrates Essentials with all it’s rich features and services they added two more new products Epocrates Medical Dictionary with more than 100,000 medical terms and Epocrates Coder with the ability to look up ICD codes by category, keyword, or code number.

The Epocrates package is once more proving to be an all-in-one product that enables us to look up almost everything in one application and one interface.

For Epocrates Essentials Pda4peds Review Click Here

For Epocrates Essentials Deluxe Pda4peds Review Click Here

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, Calculators, Converters, Tools, Differential Diagnosis, Drug Guides, News | No Comments »

Database error in Epocrates

Friday, November 10th, 2006

Occasionally and especially in PPC 2003 and older versions, Epocrates Essentials may crash and a message appear somewhat like ”database not available”

This is usually the result of moving Rx and Sx to a storage card or perhaps because of another software conflict.

Prevention:To avoid having such a problem try the following:

1- Auto Update Epocartes alone (tick only auto update in options of avtivesync)

2- Try not to move Rx and Sx to the storage card (if your main memory space allows)

Management: When it happens try Auto updating as it may solve the problem and if this doesn’t work then the only solution is by uninstalling ( Read this page )and reinstalling the software.

Remember that your personalized CME credits will be saved to your account even if you uninstall the software.

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Posted in All, General Issues | No Comments »

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