June 2003 - Issue No. 24
What's new this month at Epocrates
We would like to express our sincere thanks to more than 65,000 healthcare professionals who have subscribed to our premium products – Epocrates Rx Pro for the mobile (Palm OS, Pocket PC and Mac versions) and Epocrates Rx Online for the desktop. Your support is critical to our continued success as it enables us to earn the necessary revenue to develop new products, features and functionality that you have requested.

If you have not yet subscribed, we hope you will find time in your busy schedule to visit our website and give our premium products a try or ask someone to sponsor them for you by taking advantage of the Epocrates certificate program. Please read on to learn about our latest content additions, special offers and more.

This month's issue includes:
Save $20 when you subscribe to both Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online

Save time and improve patient care by having the most up-to-date, concise clinical information via mobile AND desktop Internet browser!

"I like Epocrates Rx Online because it is easy to use and has the capability to print out patient information. It will be especially handy for clinicians who have EMRs and use computers in their exam rooms. I use my Palm version when I'm away from the office in surgery or in the hospital and will find the online version more convenient when I'm in the office."

- Patricia Dawson, M.D.

Epocrates Rx Online, our new web-based product, offers many of the same features and functionality as Epocrates Rx Pro mobile software, but also allows you to…
  • Print out Epocrates clinical and formulary information for your patients to take home, such as adverse reactions, drug interactions, pricing and more
  • View Epocrates clinical and formulary information on your larger desktop computer screen, making it easier to read and share with patients and colleagues
  • Enable staff without PDAs to access Epocrates clinical and insurance information
  • Access Epocrates wherever, whenever – from your PDA or desktop computer

Until June 30th, you can subscribe to both Rx Pro and Rx Online for only $79.99 (You save $20).

To obtain your $20 discount, simply add both Epocrates Rx Online and Epocrates Rx Pro to your shopping cart and the discount will be applied automatically when you click "checkout".

If you already subscribed to Epocrates Rx Pro, you can subscribe to Epocrates Rx Online for only $29.99 (You save $20). Your discount will be applied automatically when you add Epocrates Rx Online to your shopping cart and click "checkout".


Recent reviews of Epocrates Rx Online:

Click here to read a review by Julee Waldrop, MS,
FNP, PNP

Click here to read a review written by Daniel Hier, M.D.

BACK TO TOPICS >>
AutoUpdate to get new drug, alternative medicine and table updates…

The Epocrates Clinical Team continues to add new drugs and update content in the Epocrates database (over 2,800 drugs and growing) including monograph, table and drug-drug interaction enhancements.

New prescription drugs and their indications include:
  • betamethasone dipropionate, augmented
    topical – dermatoses
  • Gynazole 1 - candidiasis, vulvovaginal
  • MicroNefrin – asthma
  • Monistat 1-Day - candidiasis, vulvovaginal
  • racemic epinephrine (common name) - asthma
  • reserpine - hypertension
  • S2 - asthma
  • Septocaine - local anesthetic, dental
  • Terazol 7 - candidiasis, vulvovaginal
  • Testim - male hypogonadism
  • Xanax XR - panic disorder
  • Zovirax Cream - herpes labialis

Updated prescription drugs include:

  • clozapine - added new indication for schizophrenia-associated suicide risk
  • Clozaril - added new indication for schizophrenia-associated suicide risk
  • Depakote ER - added indication for seizures
  • Gleevec - added 50 and 400 mg tab sizes, added pediatric dosing
  • Glucophage XR - added 750 SR tab size
  • midazolam - updated pediatric dosing
  • Ocuflox - added pediatric dosing
  • PEG - removed Intron "restricted access" notation
  • Stadol NS - added renal and hepatic dosing
  • Versed - updated pediatric dosing
  • Zoloft - added new indication for
    Social Anxiety Disorder

New alternative medicine: (available only in Epocrates
Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online)

  • lemon balm - various reported uses including treatment of herpes labialis

New and updated tables: (available only in Epocrates
Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online)

  • Antiarrhythmic Agents – new
  • Apgar Score - updated
  • Endocarditis Prophyllaxis, Adult - updated
  • Endocarditis Prophyllaxis, Pediatric - updated
  • Inhaled Steroid Comparison, Pediatric - updated
  • Lab Values, Normal - updated
  • Vaccinations, Pediatric - updated
  • Vaccinations, Travel - updated

To learn more about Epocrates Rx and Epocrates
Rx Pro, please click here.

To learn how someone else can sponsor Epocrates Rx Pro or Epocrates Rx Online for you, please click here.

If you are having any problems upgrading
or AutoUpdating, or if you are not sure that you have AutoUpdate properly installed, please visit our support portal where you will find answers to the most commonly asked questions. You can also use the support portal to email our support team with specific questions. They will respond to your support request in the order in which it was received as quickly as possible.

BACK TO TOPICS >>
Need a new PDA with more memory to make room for Epocrates software?

Though Epocrates software is not compatible with memory cards/memory sticks, there are many affordable devices that include between 16-64MB of internal memory, giving you plenty of room for Epocrates software. For a limited time, you can get a special deal on a new Palm OS or Pocket PC PDA bundled with Epocrates Rx Pro premium software by taking advantage of one of two offers:

Palm OS
Until June 30th, buy a Handspring Treo (combination PDA and phone) and get a complimentary Epocrates Rx Pro one-year subscription ($50 value).

Pocket PC
Until June 30th, save 10% ($30-$70) on an HP iPAQ device when you subscribe to Epocrates Rx Pro for the Pocket PC.

BACK TO TOPICS >>
Epocrates tip: Check interactions among
up to 50 medications at once and print results
to educate your patients…

Have you been taking advantage of the MultiCheck™ feature in Epocrates Rx and Epocrates Rx Pro? If it’s not familiar to you, just tap on the icon with a "M" and a check mark in the lower right hand corner of your PDA screen to launch this especially useful feature. Tap on as many as 30 drugs and click “Run” to check for any possible interactions between them. Epocrates Rx Pro users can also use MultiCheck to identify interactions with over 400 alternative medicines/herbals.

Epocrates Rx Online, our new web-based desktop reference, includes an even more powerful version of MultiCheck. It enables you to check interactions among up to 50 medications at once and also print the results to share with your patients and include in their files.

To see a MultiCheck example using Epocrates
Rx Online, please click here.

BACK TO TOPICS >>
Epocrates Advocate of the Month –
Daniel Hier, M.D.

Advocate Program
We created the Advocate Program for users who are interested in sharing information about Epocrates software with colleagues. For example, many Advocates demonstrate Epocrates software at medical society conferences and academic grand rounds. If you would like to become an Epocrates Advocate, please write to advocates@ Epocrates.com so we can email you an informational PowerPoint presentation and other educational tools.

Advocate of the Month
This month, we have selected Daniel Hier to be our Advocate of the Month. We would like to thank Dr. Hier for educating his colleagues and residents about Epocrates reference tools for both the mobile and desktop.

"Epocrates Rx and Rx Pro are favored clinical tools for all of our faculty and residents in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation at the University of Illinois. Each year we issue our incoming Neurology Residents a PDA and encourage them to download Epocrates software. Our residents find Epocrates Rx and Rx Pro invaluable for checking doses, drug costs, drug interactions, as well as indications on nearly every prescription. We especially like the ability to check brand names against generic names. Recently, we have started using Epocrates Rx Online at our clinic workstation computers. This gives us access to the same powerful drug base and informational tables as well as the capability to print drug information out for the use of both our staff and patients. Epocrates is a major component of our patient safety efforts."

Daniel B. Hier MD
Professor and Head
Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation
University of Illinois at Chicago

To read Dr. Hier's recent review of Epocrates
Rx Online, please click here.

BACK TO TOPICS >>
This concludes the June issue of the Epocrates Newsletter.

If you are interested in reading past issues of the Epocrates newsletter that you might have missed, you can now find them posted to our website by clicking here.

Best wishes,

The Epocrates Team