Epocrates: PDA medical software

Why do we call it Epocrates Essentials?

Our medical editors, in collaboration with other respected institutions, have selected the most critical drug, disease, and diagnostic information you need for patient care, and organized it in one really easy-to-use, intelligently linked product.

We believe that makes it a must-have mobile resource for busy healthcare professionals.

Instantly access drug prescribing and safety information for more than 3,500 brand and generic drugs. Search for a drug by name or class; then you can review:

• Adult and pediatric dosing for FDA-approved and off-label indications with links from the dose to an integrated weight-based dosing calculator, where applicable
• Black box warnings, contraindications, and cautions
• Serious and common adverse reactions, and drug interactions organized by clinical category
• Up-to-date, detailed formulary information for national and regional healthcare insurance formularies, including all Medicare Part D plans
• Approximate retail drug pricing for patients paying out-of-pocket
• Safety and monitoring information, such as pregnancy risk categories, lactation safety ratings, monitoring parameters and therapeutic drug levels
• Manufacturing information including DEA/FDA status
• Pharmacology information, including metabolism, excretion, drug class, and mechanism of action
• Notes section for your personal use

The new Epocrates OTC drug module provides the latest information on hundreds of brand name over-the-counter drugs. Each product-specific monograph answers questions such as:

• What are the active ingredients and their uses?
• What's the dose for my patient's age?
• What flavors are available?
• Does the product contain alcohol, sugar, or dyes?
• Will it interact with prescription and herbal medications?
• Is there another product with the same active ingredients, but in a chewable or liquid form? 
• My patient needs an analgesic, an antihistamine, and an antitussive; is there one product with all of these?
• Is this product covered by my patient's health insurance?

See our OTC module in action »

Access diagnostic and treatment information for hundreds of diseases and conditions. Epocrates Dx disease diagnosis and therapeutic content is sourced from 5-Minute Clinical Consult.

Search by diagnosis or system for:

• Signs/Symptoms and Diagnosis, including differential diagnosis
• Recommended medications - just tap on a drug to go to the associated drug monograph
• Treatment information, including patient education
• Basics like description, risk factors and causes

Plus - The Epocrates Sx assessment tool, developed in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital's Laboratory of Computer Science, uses a unique set of algorithms to provide the most clinically useful diagnosis index to the Epocrates Dx disease reference.

To use:

• Enter patient's gender, age, and duration of symptoms (optional).
• Look up your patient's signs and symptoms.
• Generate lists of common and rare diagnoses within Epocrates Dx, organized by likelihood.
• Refine your search with additional findings.

Select a diagnosis to jump to the related disease monograph.

Reference authoritative information on more than 600 complementary and alternative medicines including:

• Reported uses and doses
• Interactions with prescription drugs
• Cautions
• Pregnancy and lactation safety
• Adverse reactions
• Synonyms

There are some things you just can't do in your head!

The powerful MultiCheck feature enables you to check for interactions among up to 30 drugs at a time.

Potential interactions are organized by category to help you determine the appropriate action.

Plus, our IV compatibility checker gives you easy access to compatibility data sourced from the King® Guide - determine drug-solution (or drug-drug-solution) compatibility among up to 30 drugs and IV products.

Epocrates ID gives you treatment guidelines for hundreds of infectious diseases

• Search by body system, bug, or drug
• Access empiric and specific treatment recommendations in seconds
• Tap on a drug name to link to the drug monograph

Get help with lab preparation, interpretation, and follow-up. Epocrates Lab includes information on hundreds of tests and panels, including:

• Interpretation, based on high/low abnormal value, provides differential diagnosis of drug, disease, and spurious causes with links to drug and disease information and follow-up recommendations
• Reference ranges
• Preparation and collection guides
• Description and synonyms

Additional references and tools to help you every day.

• MedMath - dozens of useful medical calculators, including STAT Cholesterol, BMI & Obesity, and Opioid Analgesic Converter
• Association guidelines and reference tables
• Optional add-ons to suit your needs

The Epocrates Medical Information editors continually update Epocrates databases to ensure you have the most current information available, including:

• New drugs and interactions
• New indications
• Drug recalls
• Medication safety updates from the FDA, CDC, ISMP, AHRQ and more
• Formulary status changes
• New disease, diagnostic and treatment information

To receive these updates, sync your mobile device while your desktop is connected to the Internet (you can also sync wirelessly).

Epocrates Essentials for Palm Requirements:

• Palm OS
• Palm webOS (Palm Pre)