January 2004 - Issue No. 31

	This month's issue includes: Epocrates Receives eHealth Developers' Summit Award for Application Excellence Epocrates ID® now available for the Pocket PC Epocrates Dx powered by Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult Coming Soon New clinical updates now available via AutoUpdate Epocrates Advocate of the Month: Mark Rucquoi, MD

What's new this month at Epocrates

Happy New Year from the Epocrates team!

We are starting off the New Year with some exciting product development news including the introduction
of our popular Epocrates ID® infectious disease application for the Pocket PC platform.

Please read on to learn more. 

Epocrates Receives eHealth Developers' Summit Award for Application Excellence

We are pleased to announce that Epocrates was recognized with an "eHealth Impact Award" at the eHealth Institute's annual Developers' Summit held in San Diego. The "eHealth Impact Award" is given to the eHealth product that has made the greatest positive impact on health and/or health care.

"The purpose of the eHealth Award is to recognize and promote high quality eHealth products that have made a real difference. Because this award is conferred by peers, it is particularly notable," said Tom Eng, VMD, MPH, president and founder of the eHealth Institute, a private, charitable nonprofit organization (501c3) that seeks to harness the power of information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, to improve health for all.


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Epocrates ID® now available for the Pocket PC

The newest version of Epocrates Rx Pro™ for Pocket PC, which includes Epocrates ID®, our infectious disease treatment recommendation guide, is now available for download from the Epocrates website. If you currently have an active subscription to the Pocket PC version of Epocrates Rx Pro, you can get the newest version with Epocrates ID at no additional charge. (The update is included in your current subscription fee.)

What is Epocrates ID?

Epocrates ID is the fastest and most complete infectious disease application available for mobile devices:

• Find infectious disease treatment recommendations in 5 seconds or less.
• Access comprehensive information on over 300 diagnoses.
• Search by anatomic system, bug or drug.
• Launch into the Epocrates Rx Pro drug database and back.
  
  

How do I access the new version of Epocrates Rx Pro with Epocrates ID?

For current subscribers:

Click here to download and install the newest version of Epocrates Rx Pro, which includes the Epocrates ID treatment guidelines application.

For new subscribers:

Click here to visit the Epocrates website and add Epocrates Rx Pro to your shopping cart.

Have any questions?

If you have any questions, please visit our online support portal. 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.


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Epocrates Dx™ powered by Griffith’s 5-Minute Clinical Consult Coming Soon

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the 4,000+ Epocrates users who have written to us, offering to participate in our upcoming beta test for Epocrates Dx, our newest clinical reference program for Palm OS devices.

Powered by Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult, Epocrates Dx will help you quickly and easily access comprehensive information on over 1,200 diseases and conditions.

Epocrates Dx will also include many valuable features that set it apart from other clinical reference programs:

• Continually updated!
• Integrated with Epocrates Rx® and Epocrates Rx Pro™
• Designed to be as easy to use as Epocrates Rx
• Supplemented with content provided by the Epocrates Medical Editors
• Streamlined to take up less memory on your PDA
  

Look for launch information on our website soon!

Have any questions?

Please click here to visit our support portal.


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New clinical updates now available via AutoUpdate

The Epocrates Medical Information Editors continue to add new drugs and update content in the Epocrates Rx, Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online clinical references. We recommend you AutoUpdate Epocrates Rx and Epocrates Rx Pro at least once per week to keep your information current.

New FDA-approved prescription drugs

• Cubicin – adult skin infections
• Namenda – adult moderate-severe Alzheimer's dementia
• nefazodone – adult depression
• piperacillin – adult and pediatric bacterial infections
• Zemaira – adult alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency
  
  

New monographs for previously approved prescription drugs

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

• ephedra – revised to reflect 12/30/03 FDA ban (click here to learn more)
  
  

New table (only available in Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online)

• Controlled Substances Schedules
  
  

Updated table (only available in Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online)

• HIV Regimens
  
  
  

Have any questions?

If you have any questions about AutoUpdate, 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.


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Epocrates Advocate of the Month:
Mark Rucquoi, MD

Advocate of the Month

This month, we have selected Dr. Mark Rucquoi to be our Advocate of the Month. We would like to thank Dr. Rucquoi for providing valuable product development feedback over the past several years and for educating his colleagues about Epocrates products.

"Practicing in a rural community, I quickly learned to value Epocrates Rx Pro as much as my stethoscope.

The 'Notes' section (found in Epocrates Rx, Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates ID) is a great place to add information that often makes up the 'art' of medicine – such as common off-label uses and clinical pearls.  These notes can be "beamed" to colleagues and students, allowing for another level of information sharing. 

In addition, I rely on the alternative medicine information in Epocrates Rx Pro to help untangle common misconceptions that patients have about heavily advertised supplements and medications.

I am indebted to the developers of this resource for helping me save time.  It is an easy thing to advocate for a comprehensive, 'cut-to-the-chase' approach to current medication and 'alt med' information."

Marc Rucquoi, MD
The Family Healthcare Center
Clinton, South Carolina

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.


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This concludes the January issue of the Epocrates Newsletter.

Best wishes,

The Epocrates Team