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April 2004 - Issue No. 34
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What's new this month at Epocrates
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Epocrates is committed to helping more than 350,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals improve quality of care, by using innovative technology to bring you the most reliable, up-to-date clinical information available. In this issue we've highlighted some of the ways in which Epocrates is making a positive impact on patient safety and satisfaction. |
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Epocrates DocAlert® System Enhances
Patient Safety Last month Epocrates issued a DocAlert® message in conjunction with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) regarding morphine concentrate solution and serious medication errors. The DocAlert described an incident involving a 91-year-old man who was being treated for a mild heart attack and was mistakenly given a 100 mg dose of ROXANOL (concentrated morphine solution), instead of 5 mg as prescribed. The error may have contributed to the patient's death the following day. The manufacturer had issued a safety alert last year warning about deaths from accidental overdoses (www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2003/roxanol.htm). Most of the deaths involved morphine solutions that were mistakenly ordered, dispensed, and labeled by volume (mL), not milligrams. When concentrated morphine is stored on nursing units, it's often kept next to conventional concentrations. Thus, it’s easy to confuse these products and dosage strengths. Also, some physicians have prescribed the medication in terms of ml instead of mg, which has led to errors because multiple concentrations exist. To learn more, please visit www.ismp.org. Not long after issuing the DocAlert message, Epocrates received the following correspondence from Vincent Alvarez, MD, Chief Medical Officer for the Veteran’s Administration (VA) Mid-South Healthcare Network. "I thought I would share a 'success' story that came about because of the Epocrates ISMP alert. The VA is actually a national leader in patient safety. We all have national, network, and facility patient safety managers, and we look at all kinds of safety issues, including medication. We try to pick up on all of the various alerts, but the one on concentrated morphine was missed, until I got the DocAlert on my Palm Pilot. I shared it with the VISN Patient Safety manager, who then shared it with our facility Pharmacists and patient Safety managers. Fortunately, five of our six facilities did not have the concentrated morphine on the ward stock, but one did. We have changed the system at that one facility, and no longer keep the concentrated morphine on the ward. I think that your service helped us avoid a potential error. Thanks." If you would like to learn more about Epocrates DocAlert Messages, please click here. BACK TO TOPICS >> |
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National Video News Release Promotes
Patient Safety Epocrates distributed a video news release (VNR) during National Patient Safety Week (March 7-13), which focused on the issue of medication safety. We invite you to view the VNR via the Epocrates website, to hear how Epocrates enhances patient safety by putting tools such as the Multicheck® drug interaction checker at health care providers' fingertips. The VNR will be broadcast by television stations nationally over the next few months. BACK TO TOPICS >> |
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Is Your Clinical Information Current? AutoUpdate Now!
One of the most important ways Epocrates contributes to enhancing patient safety is by providing reliable and up-to-date drug and clinical reference information. The Epocrates Medical Information Editors are regularly adding new drugs and updating content in the Epocrates Rx®, Epocrates Rx Pro™ and Epocrates Rx Online™ clinical references including new indications, FDA Medwatch changes, new drug-drug interactions and more. For example, as of February 2004, there were over 3,000 drugs in the Epocrates clinical references, an 8% increase over the course of the past year. And in February alone, there were 20 complete new drug monographs added and nearly 150 drug edits made to the references. As you can see, the list below highlights only key changes made to the clinical references. The Medical Information Editors are regularly updating the content. To keep your information current and reduce the risk of inadvertent medication errors, we recommend you AutoUpdate Epocrates Rx and Epocrates Rx Pro at least once per week. New FDA-approved prescription drugs
New monographs for previously approved prescription drugs
New monographs for previously approved OTC drugs
New indications for previously approved prescription drugs
Monographs updated with FDA Medwatch changes
The following monographs were updated to reflect the recent FDA Public Health Advisory regarding risk of suicidality and worsening depression in adult and pediatric patients taking certain antidepressants (for
The following monographs were updated to reflect warnings regarding hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus in patients taking atypical antipsychotics
New table (only available in Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates Rx Online)
Have any questions? |
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Popular Demand Extends PDAMD Bundle through May
There's still time to get Epocrates Dx™ bundled with a 32MB Palm Tungsten E for only $199! That's $60 in savings. This special offer includes a new Tungsten E mobile and a one-year subscription to Epocrates Dx. Other models are also available bundled with Dx at a range of prices, and some include the Palm Protection Plan Plus extended warranty. Click here to take advantage of this offer through May 31st. If you're interested in learning more about Epocrates Dx, please visit us at www.epocrates.com. BACK TO TOPICS >> |
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Epocrates Advocate of the Month –
Phil Goldstein, MD This month, we have selected Dr. Phil Goldstein to be our Advocate of the Month. We would like to thank Dr. Goldstein for providing valuable product development feedback over the past several years and for educating his colleagues about Epocrates products. "The new Epocrates Dx diagnostic and treatment reference database is a welcome adjunct to Epocrates Rx Pro, which I have used regularly for well over a year. The seamless integration of these products assists me in making appropriate and clinically-sound patient care decisions at the point of service. As a practicing pediatrician, the regular clinical database updates for both products enables me to stay current while minimizing medication errors. My patients are constantly reassured by the mobile technology. In fact, our multi-site group practice is in the process of upgrading to a paperless system - I envision the Epocrates suite of products to be an integral part of that process. No other disease state and medication reference products I've used offer the flexibility, ease-of-use, and clinical accuracy of Epocrates Dx and Epocrates Rx Pro." Advocate Program 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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Epocrates Needs You!
Last month we introduced our Press Advocate Program and so far have received an enthusiastic response, but we’d like as many Press Advocates as possible to ensure we represent users from a wide range of locations and specialties. So here's a re-cap of what we're looking for! We often receive inquiries from members of the news media who would like to speak with physicians, dentists, pharmacists, health care professionals and even students who use Epocrates' various products. If you are interested in and comfortable with speaking to the press, please let us know. In your e-mail response, be sure to provide us with your complete contact information: name, credentials or titles, city and state, your sub-specialty (if applicable), and most importantly, a telephone number. Reporters are often on deadline and an Epocrates team member may need to contact you. If you would like to become an Epocrates Press Advocate, please write to advocates@epocrates.com. BACK TO TOPICS >> |
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This concludes the April issue of the Epocrates Newsletter.
Best wishes, The Epocrates Team |
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