What's New

September 30, 2002

 
Clinical Apps Win PalmSource Awards

At its headquarters opening celebration, PalmSource announced the winners of the Powered Up Awards. The awards recognize four applications from the developers who have created applications for the Palm OS.

ePocrates was chosen as "Best Enterprise" and "Best Overall" winner for its ePocrates Rx solution. MARGI Systems was selected as "Best Productivity and Education" winner for its Presenter-to-Go SD. Vindigo was named "Best Leisure and Entertainment" winner for Vindigo 2.0 and high school student An Nguyen was chosen "Best Student" winner for Palm Clinical WebLog.

PalmSource said winners were selected based on the following key criteria: innovation, newness to the category, value, ease of use and expansion.
posted by Kent 6:00 PM | |

 
More Than 100,000 Medical Professionals Depend on Skyscape for Critical Information at the Point of Care

Skyscape, Inc., the leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for the healthcare community, today announced that more than 100,000 medical professionals including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, physician assistants, residents and medical students, have registered to use Skyscape-powered software.

Since entering the market in 2000, Skyscape has realized substantial growth and has been recognized for a number of firsts:

• The first company in this space to have both more than 100,000 active registered users and more than 50,000 subscribers paying for trusted, gold standard medical reference content.
  
• The first technology to enable "smARTlinking" between trusted medical references such as the Physicians' Desk Reference and Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult (published by Thomson and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins respectively). smARTlink is part of Skyscape's patented technology that can aggregate information from any source, organize the information and then create linked, context-sensitive solutions for PDAs, cell phones and other devices.
  
• The first company in its market to form partnerships with more than 100 residency and college programs including Abbott Northwestern, Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Medical Schools.

"Bringing medical professionals the information they need is critical, but the rapid adoption Skyscape has seen is a testimony to our ability to give users not just the information they need, but the ability to use it the way they think," said Sandeep Shah, president and CEO of Skyscape. "Content is important, but content in context and the ability to link different resources from different sources and different parts of the diagnosis and treatment process is what sets Skyscape apart from other companies."

"Some of my patients ask questions about a drug side effect or interaction and you cannot believe how powerful it is to show the patient the information I have on my handheld," said Souheil Habbal, MD, Immunologist and Allergist, at Kaiser Permanente. Hospitals, medical groups and residency and education programs are increasingly turning to Skyscape to meet their mobile information needs. Earlier this month, Skyscape announced it has signed agreements with more than 90 residency and college programs including Abbott Northwestern, Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Medical Schools. A recent survey from MRI reports that 49 percent of hospitals that have not yet introduced mobile technologies plan to do so within the next two years.

"Allowing medical professionals to access critical information at the point of care is an increasingly pressing challenge for healthcare providers," said Jocelyn Young, program manager for healthcare research at IDC. "In fact, over the next five years, IDC expects the market for mobile solutions in healthcare to grow faster than the healthcare IT market overall."

Skyscape in Action
Skyscape's solutions bring critical, actionable information to doctors, in a context they can use reducing the time doctors need to spend consulting information and adding value by enabling complex information queries and access to the latest drug information. Research has shown that the ability to capture and retrieve information at the point-of-care can reduce the time it takes to deliver care in half and can significantly reduce prescription errors. The power of handheld has been recognized by the medical industry, with almost 50 percent of doctors today using the devices.

Through the use of Skyscape solutions on their handhelds, physicians can diagnose illnesses, determine treatment, prescribe medication, identify drug interactions, calculate dosages, and perform all the necessary steps involved with quality patient care right at the patient's bedside. ART-based solutions enable practitioners to follow their own intuitive thought process and workflow, improving care quality and reducing administrative time.

"Skyscape products are accurate, thorough and easy to use. Conscientious use of the programs save lives by preventing errors from drug interactions. Where else can one find such an incredible knowledge base in such a tiny package?" said Garland Novosad, a dentist in Wharton, Texas.

About Skyscape
Skyscape is the leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for the healthcare community. Skyscape utilizes its patented ART (Advanced Reference and Transaction) infrastructure technology to create compelling high-value solutions for handheld devices that reflect and support the intuitive thought processes of the medical practitioner. Skyscape's solutions significantly improve the quality and efficiency of medical decision making - at the point of care - by enabling doctors to diagnose illnesses, determine treatment, prescribe medication, identify drug interactions, calculate dosages and perform all the necessary steps involved with quality patient care. Skyscape has the largest installed base of paying customers in the industry including individual and communities of medical practitioners at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Stanford Medical School, Partners Health System, Duke University, Mayo Clinic, and Kaiser. Skyscape's solutions are available on multiple platforms including Palm OS, Windows CE, and Pocket PC. For more information about Skyscape, please visit their Website.
posted by Kent 5:47 PM | |

September 29, 2002

 
Tarascon ePharmacopoeia Free Public Beta

Want to take an active role in shaping the all-new, expanded-feature, second generation edition of the handheld Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe? Click here to download a free pre-release version.

This second generation Pocket Pharmacopoeia includes all the features of the now-discontinued ePharmacopoeia product, with the following new enhancements:

• 47 reference tables from the print edition
  
• 9 medical formula calculators
  
• Instant drug look-up by name, class, or indication on a single home screen
  
• "Adverse effects" and "mechanism of action" information for each drug
  
• A new "Herbal and Alternative Therapies" section
  
• Canadian drug names
  
• A fully integrated tool for multiple drug interaction checking, with interactions data from the experts at The Medical Letter
  
• A full-featured version for Pocket PC platforms
  
• Memory card support (coming soon)
  
• Software written by USBMIS, Inc., creators of the PDA versions of The Sanford Guide

Handheld content will be updated monthly throughout 2002, then continuously in 2003. Tarascon states they are committed to keeping the product free through December 31, 2002, and anticipate a $25 yearly subscription thereafter.
posted by Kent 3:38 PM | |

September 27, 2002

 
ACP-ASIM PDA Store

The American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine have partnered with PDAMD.com to provide members with access to PDA hardware and software products from a wide variety of vendors at discounted prices. Available at ACPOnline.org, the official ACP-ASIM website, the PDA Center provides access to a comprehensive resource addressing PDAs and medical data management, giving ACP-ASIM's 115,000 internal medicine physician members access to a library of medically oriented handheld applications, advanced customization options to speed deployment, and dedicated support personnel. According to a 2001 ACP-ASIM survey of 489 members, 47 percent were found to use handheld computers, and usage among internists is expected to increase.
posted by Kent 6:23 PM | |

 
First Review: ePocrates Rx Pro

ePocrates Rx Pro, a "new and improved" version of the popular drug reference tool, is scheduled to be released in early October. For preview of what's in store, check out Dr. Kim Montee's review on PDAMD.com.
posted by Kent 7:46 AM | |

September 26, 2002

 
New Tarascon ePharmacopoeia Coming Soon

According to the Tarascon web site, the current Tarascon ePharmacopoeia is being phased out and an altogether new and better PDA version of the Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe Edition is about to be released for both the Palm OS and the Pocket PC. The Palm version is planned to be available around October 1st, with the Pocket PC version expected by November 1st.

To be notified when the new version is released, please e-mail Tarascon with your physical and e-mail addresses, and they will alert you as soon as the new products are available.
posted by Kent 6:34 PM | |

September 23, 2002

 
Franklin Books on SD/MMC Cards

Franklin Electronic Publishers has announced new MultiMediaCard (MMC) editions of its top medical references. These MMC cards are designed to plug into SD/MMC expansion slots found on many handheld devices, including Palm, Treo, Handera, Compaq iPAQ, Casio, and Toshiba.
posted by Kent 7:34 PM | |

 
Palm announces Tungsten

Six years after pioneering the handheld market, Palm today defined a new era in handheld computing with the creation of two distinct subbrands for its portfolio of handheld products -- the Tungsten and Zire families. Tungsten products will provide powerful solutions for mobile professionals and enterprise work forces; Zire handhelds will provide affordable options for individuals to organize their busy lives.

Also today, in a separate press release, Palm announced the first product in its Palm Tungsten line, the Tungsten Mobile Information Management Solution. The Tungsten MIM Solution offers enterprises a complete and secure wireless email and groupware access solution. Mobile work forces now can enjoy secure, wireless access to corporate email, calendars, contacts, memos, to-dos and data from a Palm handheld.

For more information, check out the Palm web site or the PDF document here.
posted by Kent 7:07 PM | |

September 10, 2002

 
Medical Students Complete Wireless Learning Trial

Stanford University School of Medicine has completed a trial of a new wireless interactive learning system for medical students. This summer, students used Palm m125 handhelds equipped with the Palm Bluetooth Card and Stanford's custom-designed software to communicate wirelessly with instructors via PicoBlue Internet Access Points. Instead of asking for the traditional show of hands or engaging in one-on-one question and answer sessions in a large class, the instructor electronically polled the class in real time. For more information, check out the full news item at PDAStreet.
posted by Kent 5:28 PM | |

 
Redi-Reference Clinical Guidelines

The June 2002 edition of the Redi-Reference Clinical Guidelines eHandbook is available and has been receiving excellent reviews. It contains over thirty concise summaries of national guidelines, including the recently issued CDC Sexually Transmitted Disease Guidelines - 2002.

The Clinical Guidelines eBook is endorsed by the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, and was described in the Nov. 20th edition of Annals of Internal Medicine as, "A powerful tool for bringing evidence based medicine to the point of care." Hospital Physician described the handbook as giving, "Concise, easy-to-use summaries of national clinical guidelines..with the ability to receive regular updates as one of the most exciting advances that electronic references offer."

The Clinical Guidelines Handbook is available at: http://www.redi-reference.com/pages/products.htm
posted by Kent 8:24 AM | |

September 9, 2002

 
New Nursing References Coming from Skyscape

Today, Skyscape announced that it is bringing five of the most popular nursing references to the PDA for the first time. These include: Nurse's Fast Facts; Practical Guide to Health Assessment Through the Life Span; Nurse's Pocket Guide: Diagnoses, Interventions, and Rationales; Psychosocial Nursing for General Patient Care; and RNotes: Nurse's Clinical Pocket Guide. These titles will complement the four F. A. Davis titles already available for PDAs and gives the more than 2.7 million nurses and nursing students immediate access to critical information at the point of care. Take a look at their press release for more information.
posted by Kent 6:54 PM | |

September 6, 2002

 
ePocrates Rx Pro

ePocrates is currently developing a new version of ePocrates Rx which will include a separate database containing the most thoroughly researched evidence-based information available on alternative medicines. You will be able to quickly identify not just potential interactions with prescription medications, but also adverse reactions, dosing, and more. Stay tuned to the ePocrates web site for more information on ePocrates Rx Pro, coming soon.
posted by Kent 3:21 PM | |

September 4, 2002

 
Harrison's Manual of Medicine Now Available

Unbound Medicine and McGraw-Hill Professional have announced the release of Harrison's Manual of Medicine, 15th Edition, for PDAs.

This version of Harrison's Manual of Medicine is specifically optimized for mobile devices. Referenced to the world's best-selling internal medicine textbook, this handy reference provides on-the-spot answers to the problems faced daily in the practice of medicine. It's perfect for students and clinicians on the wards, in clinics, emergency rooms, or teaching situations.

Utilizing Unbound Medicine's next-generation handheld platform, users can access the information they need in a matter of seconds. They can select diseases or conditions quickly via the Topic Guide or Table of Contents, then use several built-in navigation features to review the desired information or link to related topics.

Harrison's Manual of Medicine is also upgradeable via the handheld to Harrison's On Hand, the advanced mobile knowledge management platform from McGraw-Hill and Unbound Medicine. Harrison's Manual of Medicine is available from Palm.com, Handango, and other online sources.
posted by Kent 9:42 PM | |

 
Mobile AMNews for Handhelds

American Medical News is now available on your Palm OS handheld. The mobile version of AMNews keeps you wired into medical news, and has been formatted to offer a compact channel size. AvantGo users can sign up instantly by clicking here. AMNews will automatically be added to your channel list, and will be available the next time you HotSync. Handheld users with a DOC reader can download a DOC-formatted version of AMNews as a pdb file by clicking here.
posted by Kent 7:40 PM | |

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