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August 2004 - Issue No. 38
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What's new this month at Epocrates
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In addition to our new product launch of Epocrates Essentials, we have also added a "Question of the Month" (see below) to our monthly newsletter. We hope this will be helpful and useful to you when using our products. 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. |
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Epocrates Launches All-in-one Reference
Epocrates® Essentials has been designed to provide speedy answers to a broad range of clinical questions about drugs, diseases and diagnostics. E.g. Does St. John's Wort interact with Zoloft? What drugs interfere with C-reactive protein test results? What's the 5-year survival rate for cervical cancer? "I especially like the hot links between the modules. Overall, it's probably the most useful, best-integrated set of clinical information modules that I've used. It has become the most used medical application on my PDA." Already subscribe to one or more premium Epocrates mobile references? |
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New Lactation Safety Ratings
In July, our Medical Information editors completely revised the lactation safety rating system in Epocrates Rx® and Epocrates Rx Pro™. In order to provide more clinically relevant, useful and up-to-date information, our editors consulted a variety of references, including FDA-approved package inserts, specialty references, consensus documents published by the AAP and WHO, and the primary literature. As a result of this extensive work, the single letter codes (S, S*, S? and NS) previously used have been replaced by one- or two-word ratings. To view this information, please AutoUpdate. Then select a drug, click on "Other Info" and review "Lactation". Simply tap on the underlined rating for its definition: Safe: Substantial human data demonstrates no risk/minimal risk to infant/breast milk or medication not orally bioavailable to infant; medication usually compatible with breastfeeding Probably Safe: Limited information in animals and/or humans demonstrates no risk/minimal risk of adverse effects to infant/breast milk; caution advised Safety Unknown: Inadequate literature available to assess risk; caution advised Safety Conditional: Unsafe in certain populations; see pkg. insert Possibly Unsafe: Available animal and/or human data demonstrates potential or actual adverse effects to infant/breast milk; consider alternatives or weigh risk/benefit Unsafe: Available data demonstrates high risk of significant adverse effects to infant/breast milk; medication contraindicated or requires cessation of breastfeeding The updated lactation safety ratings in Epocrates drug monographs provide a unique resource in an area of medication use that lacks standardization in the medical literature; currently, the FDA does not assign lactation ratings, and package inserts generally lack detailed information on the use of drugs in women who are breastfeeding their infants. We believe that the new lactation safety content from Epocrates reflects the best current information available regarding medication use while breastfeeding. View a list of other clinical updates implemented in July at our website. |
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New DocAlert® Program Rolls Out
Noticed anything different about your DocAlert messages? Epocrates is expanding our DocAlert service to include specialty content relevant to your practice. While you will continue to receive important general medical content, your DocAlert messages will now be supplemented with abstracts and articles from specialty medical publications. The new content is rolling out to a growing number of specialties, including Cardiology, Psychiatry, Neurology and Primary Care. To be eligible for specialty content, be sure that your user profile includes your specialty, along with your current email address. For directions on updating your profile, click here. If you have a favored content source that you would like to suggest to the Epocrates editors for your specialty, please email us at docalerts@epocrates.com. You may also email us if you have published articles or research that you feel would make a good DocAlert® message for your colleagues. AutoUpdate frequently to receive general and specialty news and alerts:
BACK TO TOPICS >> |
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Enjoy Group Discounts
Epocrates has implemented a Group Discount program that will benefit your organization. We'd like to offer you affordable pricing when you purchase Epocrates Essentials, or any of our component products, for your physicians, nurses, students/residents and other healthcare professionals. |
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Group Discounts start at 10 or more users. We have a variety of product choices and subscription durations to meet your mobile medical needs and all are eligible for discounts. For further information, please contact groupsales@epocrates.com or call 650-227-1725 at your convenience. BACK TO TOPICS >> |
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Epocrates Advocate of the Month –
Michael Stark, M.D. "I have been using Epocrates software for the past 4 years and have just started using Epocrates® Essentials, the new all-in-one drug, disease and diagnostic reference. For the past 17 years, I have had a private practice in Internal Medicine in Manalapan, New Jersey. On average, I see 27 patients daily. I can't see how an internist in today's age could exist without Epocrates. Some of my patients are on as many as 20 different medications so the MultiCheck® multiple-drug interaction checker is the single most important tool in my practice. When I give a patient samples, I don't have to worry about the pharmacist calling me to say I missed an interaction. I also occasionally add alternative (herbal) meds to my patients' regimens, and the Alt Meds information in Epocrates Rx Pro™ is a godsend. Additionally, DocAlert® messages keep me abreast on the latest alerts from the FDA, CDC and ISMP, plus great suggestions for my practice. I would have to say that on a scale of 10, Epocrates software rates a 15. I wish there were more companies like Epocrates to aid us in the ever-intense profession that we have." Advocate Program We created the Advocate Program for anyone who is interested in sharing information about Epocrates software with peers. For more information on the Epocrates Advocate Program including how to join, please visit our website. |
 I caught this 19 lb. silver salmon on a 10lb test line, two summers ago in Alaska; it took me about half an hour! |
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