Posts Tagged ‘Skyscape’

Skyscape’s annual subscription, Any benefit!

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Recently I received an email from Skyscape telling me that my subscription is expiring! and they explained that if I don’t renew (offered discounted price) I will be losing the advantage of updates!

Well, I don’t want to renew, the product is available on my PDA and on the memory card and it will not stop working (check Skyscape’s page) if I don’t renew so why should I renew?

Frankly I don’t like Skyscape’s policy of annual subscription and here are my reasons:

1) Skyscape products (I am talking about references here) are static and they hardly ever get a real update.

2) If ever there is a new version of the reference or a major upgrade such as from Harriate 16 to 17 then you ultimately have to buy the new version and the previous purchase is not going to help in any means.

3) When you buy a product from Skyscape, they don’t mention that what you are buying is annual subscription and you get a sense that this product is yours forever.

A message to Skyscape: We love your products but please revise your subsciption policy …

Skyscape better reference pop ups

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

It was noticed that newer titles from Skyscape uses a new technology in which when tapping on a reference in a text will result in a pop up window of that reference which can be read and then closed without interruption of the flow of reading. Watch this video demonstration.

This is just another example of how Skyscape improving the medical PDA technology, they really deserve our attention and appreciation.

The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine; This time from Unbound Medicine

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

This is where we’ve seen Unbound Medicine winning over the Skyscape! The new 7th edition is provided by Unbound Medicine and Skyscape alike. Being a point of comparison Unbound Medicine did not want to miss this chance to prove themselves and they did a wonderful job, They provided a PDA, a Web, and Wireless access to the ebook!

Oxford Handbook by Unbound Medicine

Click here to read Pda4peds Review

Click here to check Oxford Handbook Website

All versions come for one price (yearly subscription for the web and wireless) which is quite reasonable @ $45. Now with the wireless access even iphone users can look up the ebook (see image above).

We wish that Oxford University Press starts thinking seriuosly of developing Oxford Handbook of Paediatrics….

BNF for Children 2006 Made available by Skyscape

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

A great news for UK paediatricians, now that they don’t need to carry the handbook anymore, it is there on their Windows Mobiles, Palms, and even BlackBerries. The Skyscape format is a match for the BNF where those chapters and sections are adequately outlined in the TOC and the index enables quick look up of medications whether in trade or generic names.

The 2006 edition is out and the 2007 edition is due on October and it will be from Skyscape also. The BNF for children is also available online and the website is free for NHS hospitals and doctors.

The ebook is an exact copy of the original print edition with the advantage of eliminating extra weight in the white coat pocket + quick and precise digital search + easy live cross linking. Nevertheless, more can be done such as integrating a drug dose calculator and developing a built-in interaction analyzer to make use of the extensive drug-drug interactions database already availble in the content.

Some other extra features that can be wished may include live links to phone numbers and emails of emergency hotlines, poison centers, drug companies, …etc. We can even dream of automatic digital reporting of side effects instead of that yellow card at the back of the print edition!

Shots 2007 ‘ Why should we buy it?

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

The society of teachers of family medicine has been offering “Shots” through their Group on Immunization Education. The program has always been free whether in its Palm, Pocket PC, or online versions. Suddenly, they decided to offer it in a Skyscape’s format for $14.95!

For more details about Shots read the latest 2009 review.

Apart from the indexing and cross linking with Skyscape’s other titles there is no real benefit actually of the Skyscape’s platform. In fact there are drawbacks like for example missing the excellent and wonderful one interface of the original program and also the absence of pictures in the Skyscape’s version!

We recommend (without any hesitation) to download the free version from immunizationed.org and not to buy the Skyscape’s version wasting 15 bucks!

Skyscape Point of Care CME

Friday, June 15th, 2007

A new concept developed by Skyscape that help us earn CME credits as we use or handhelds during the daily practice..

Unlike Skyscape’s CME360, This one does not need to be worked out specifically to get our credits. Just as we use any of the Skyscape titles during our clinical practice we can then just claim CME credit for the information that we have gained.

Here’s an example;

I used the Harriet Lane title to look up whether we should use Dexamthasone in pneumococcal meningitis, then I logged into My Account page in Skyscape’s website and clicked on POC “stands for Point of Care” CME. The Next step you choose any of your registered products for which you have purchased CME credits previously and then answer the following online questionnaire;

When this form is filled and submitted they will add the activity and the credit to your CME Vault in the online account.

This is a new concept in CME taking and it may later revolutionize the way people ask for credits because in this way we don’t need to attend lectures or conferences and even we don’t need to read a specific CME activity and answer its related questions.

It is just what we are doing regularly in our daily rounds and patients encounter and the credits accumulate.

However such a kind of CME needs to be standardized so that only new and updated clinical information “which is usually the case when you look up info over the handheld, otherwise we wouldn’t look it up if we already know it” is eligible for credit because the goal of CME is to keep physicians abreast of updates and to maintain a reasonable level of knowledge so as to be safe pediatricians.

The big disadvantage of Skyscape POC CME is that it is not free and credits needs to be purchased, Personally I think Epocrates will follow with a similar solution and it could well be free…

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!

Skyscape Medalerts New Feature!

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

We noticed a new feature in the Skyscape Medalerts that we get on our handhelds..

We can see the new button here “Request Info via Email”, well I did tap on it

But I did not receive any info! further more there was no more such an option with their subsequent alerts!

It seems that they changed their minds and removed the option, I guess..

Any one knows more about this issue?

Skyscape CME 360!

Friday, April 13th, 2007

A great serivce offered from Skyscape, Earn CME credits on the go..

Few years ago we could have never thought of getting our CME credit points via our mobiles, now this has become a reality. CME credits are now gained at the point of care (POC CME) so painlessly that we even don’t need to schedule it. It is just there on the mobile.

Skyscape 360 CME program is wonderful as it provides brief small topics that are categorized according to speciality (Although we may disagree with the categorization of their pediatric topics!). The newly designed interface gives a sense of high tech and feels more advanced and it seems that they will go ahead with a new series called 360 as they released Labs 360 shortly thereafter.

The topics are jointly sponsored by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Office of CME and MedPage Today and is accredited by ACCME towards the AMA PRA Category 1 credits.

Although they mentioned that it can be updated wirelessly, but when I downloaded the product I couldn’t find an icon to do that! Anyway the product instantly updates itself when the device is synchronized.

I really liked the articles as they are recent updates extracted from respectful references and all about our daily practice and nothing like bizzare dry theory.

The speciality of choice can be selected by logging to the account at the Skyscape website as shown here in this picture;

Read Pda4peds review about this program.

Skyscape’s New Feature! View Contents

Sunday, February 11th, 2007

In addition to the free trial facility here’s another great convenience from Skyscape, they added a new feature by which we can view the contents of each program they develop online and for free.

this is definitely going to make our decision to buy or not to buy the product much easier.

Guys, these people are really helping us!