What's New

January 30, 2003

 
New iSilo file for Diabetes Management

Diabetes in Primary Care 2003 is an essential tool for primary care providers. It provides quick and easy access to the latest diabetes guidelines, integrated with the latest in therapy. Topics include: prevention, screening, diagnosis, standards of care (based on the ADA 2003 guidelines), therapy including the latest in oral agents and insulin, complications of diabetes, key diabetes clinical trials, and resources for providers and patients. All sections are extensively cross-linked and bookmarked. Requires iSilo.
posted by Kent 10:36 PM | |

January 29, 2003

 
Shots 2003 for Pocket PC Now Available!

The Pocket PC version of my Shots 2003 application is now available from the Group on Immunization Education of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. I didn't write it, but I thought maybe those of you flirting with the "dark side" might want to know. ;-)
posted by Kent 6:50 PM | |

January 28, 2003

 
MICROMEDEX and PatientKeeper Partner

MICROMEDEX announced today that mobileMICROMEDEX clinical content is now an available feature of PatientKeeper.

Now, the evidence-based mobileMICROMEDEX information on drugs, alternative medicines, acute care, and toxicology can be easily accessed as part of PatientKeeper's mobile computing systems for hospitals by merely clicking a tab at the bottom of the PatientKeeper application screen. With mobileMICROMEDEX and PatientKeeper together, healthcare professionals can seamlessly transition between a patient's medical information and important clinical data needed to support prescribing and treatment decisions.
posted by Kent 9:29 PM | |

January 27, 2003

 
Handheld Computing Articles at PDR.net

You may have visited PDR.net to download MobilePDR, but you probably missed most of these very informative articles (they're practically buried):

Palm, Pocket PC, or pen tablet? Hard facts about hardware

Load 'em up: PDA software worth looking at

Decoding geekspeak: A glossary of PDA terms

Clinical connectivity: The future is already here
posted by Kent 8:51 PM | |

 
New Palm OS Application: LabCode

Medicare coding guidelines got you down? Check out LabCode, a tool for rapid determination of correct diagnosis codes when ordering lab tests to comply with Medicare requirements. LabCode is designed to save physicians time and improve reimbursement.
posted by Kent 7:28 PM | |

 
Lippincott Williams to Sell Skyscape Medical Titles

Skyscape, a provider of mobile solutions for the healthcare community, announced that Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), a medical reference publisher, will sell Skyscape-powered LWW titles in Europe and Asia. Skyscape has developed electronic versions of LWW's medical references for the handheld.

"We are excited to expand our partnership with LWW to address the international handheld market especially as the use of handheld devices by medical professionals is exploding in Europe and Asia," said RJ Mathew, vice president marketing and business development for Skyscape. "The LWW medical references, enhanced with Skyscape technology and customized for mobile devices, provide medical professionals the ability to make informed, critical decisions at the patient's bedside."

Through this expanded partnership, Skyscape and LWW plan to bring over 30 Skyscape-powered medical reference titles to the market, including The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, Pocket OB/GYN, The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult and the Handbook of Pediatric Drug Therapy.
posted by Kent 7:25 PM | |

January 23, 2003

 
New Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia Beta

An updated beta version of the Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopeia for Palm OS was released on January 17th, and will expire March 1st. It includes several newer drugs that were missing from the previous version. The beta version is free, but the final version will cost $25 per year.

So, how does the Tarascon Pharmacopoeia compare to ePocrates Rx?

According to Tarascon, handheld content will be updated continuously in 2003, although there doesn't appear to be anything in the program resembling the AutoUpdate feature of ePocrates. Personally, I feel this should be a requirement for an electronic drug reference in this day and age.

Tarascon does not contain any formulary info, which I find very useful, especially for tiered formularies such as Cigna.

Tarascon doesn't include any manufacturer information, which is useful if you're trying to figure out which company to contact about discount/indigent plans, etc.

The cost information in Tarascon is very sketchy, with price ranges rather than actual retail prices (although retail prices aren't all that useful given the variability of actual street prices).

Although Tarascon includes alternative medicine listings, they are not included in their drug interaction module, which makes it harder to check for interactions between herbals and prescription medications (you have to look up each herbal by itself).

Finally, I find the integration of ePocrates Rx and ID to be very helpful, which is not something you can do with Tarascon (although there are other ID references available, such as the Sanford Guide and the Johns Hopkins Antibiotic Guide, they aren't integrated).

Now...what do I like better about Tarascon?

While both programs are similar in size (around 3MB), Tarascon can run from a memory card (although you still need to keep 1.5MB of RAM free for it to work).

Tarascon's drug interaction information comes from The Medical Letter, which most clinicians trust for unbiased and accurate drug information. In addition, the monographs provided are much more explanatory than the interaction information in ePocrates, and they are fully referenced.

Overall, the clinical notes, warnings, etc. in Tarascon are more verbose and generally more informative than ePocrates.

The tables in Tarascon are very useful. While ePocrates has these as well, I've always liked the ones in Tarascon better (maybe it's just familiarity).

Unlike the previous Tarascon ePharmacopoeia, this version looks like a serious contender to ePocrates Rx, for half the price. For now, I'm using both.
posted by Kent 4:02 PM | |

January 14, 2003

 
Get a new Palm m515 for $249

My Palm m505's 8MB of RAM has been maxed out for quite some time. After surveying the crop of 16MB Palm OS devices currenly on the market, I'm hard-pressed to find a deal like the one available on the CompUSA web site (note: you can't get this price in their stores). The Palm m515, which retails for $349 ($299 after a $50 mail-in rebate), is available from CompUSA for the "web-only" price of $299 before the mail-in rebate. After the $50 mail-in rebate, the final price is only $249.

That's half the price of a Tungsten T. I don't think Palm OS 5 is going to be a must-have for at least a year or so. Plus, I don't really like the Tungsten T's sliding Graffiti area.

In case anyone is interested, you can buy my old m505 on eBay along with some other odds and ends. ;-)
posted by Kent 4:49 PM | |

January 13, 2003

 
New I.D. References from Skyscape

Skyscape today announced five new additions to its infectious disease specialty line, including two titles from noted expert Dr. John Bartlett of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This is a significant increase in the amount of infectious disease information now available to doctors for their PDAs and is invaluable, according to Dr. Bartlett.

These include:

BartlettHIV - Johns Hopkins Hospital 2002 Guide to Medical Care of Patients With HIV Infection, 10th Edition, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, keeps medical professionals on top of the latest guidelines for the care of HIV patients. Written by authority, Dr. John Bartlett, this reference includes the latest developments on HIV serology and epidemiology, classification and natural history, diagnostic evaluation and prevention of complications and opportunistic infections.

BartlettID - Also written Dr. John Bartlett, this PDA version of 2002 Pocket Book of Infectious Disease Therapy, 11th Edition, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, covers all relevant aspects of antibiotics. It offers the latest information on dosage, trade names, price, indications, interactions, use in pregnancy and renal failure. Management guidelines given by organ system and disease category provide rapid access to the best available therapies. Tabular material contains newly approved antibiotics and new recommendations for management.

HIVGuide - This PDA version of HIV Primary Care Guidelines written by Dr. Howard Libman, a noted HIV clinician educator at Harvard Medical School, provides practical up-to-date recommendations on the outpatient management of HIV disease. It covers topics of importance to clinical staff involved in the primary care of HIV-infected patients. These include HIV antibody testing, initial evaluation, antiretroviral therapy, opportunistic infection prophylaxis, immunizations and other health care maintenance issues, stratified management, and sexually transmitted diseases.

NelsonABX - This PDA version of Nelson's 2002-2003 Pocket Book of Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, is the most popular and widely used pocket reference on pediatric antimicrobial therapy. For each disease, the authors provide a commentary to help physicians select the best of all antimicrobial choices. Drug descriptions cover all antimicrobial agents available today and include complete information about dosing regimens. In response to growing concerns about overuse of antibiotics, the program includes guidelines on when not to prescribe antimicrobials.
posted by Kent 6:12 PM | |

January 5, 2003

 
Processors, Memory, Expansions, and Wireless – Explained

Overwhelmed by specifications for PDA's? Wondering what it all means to you? A new article at Dave's PDA Place addresses four key components of a PDA, what they mean to you, and how to compare different products' specifications. The article is written in very non-technical terms, and makes interesting reading if you're shopping for a new handheld.
posted by Kent 6:54 PM | |

January 1, 2003

 
Shots 2003 Now Available

Shots 2003 for Palm OS is now available from The Group on Immunization Education of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. In addition to the childhood immunization schedule, Shots 2003 includes new schedules for adults, patients with medical conditions, and catch-up. The online version is available as well. A Pocket PC version is in final testing and should be available later this month. As before, Shots 2003 is freeware.
posted by Kent 9:50 AM | |

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