Technology update: Here’s a roundup of newest tools
Technology update: Here’s a roundup of newest tools
Hand helds, microfilm, and EMRs make the news
Editor’s Note: Reports of dozens of products and programs are sent to Healthcare Benchmarks every year. Periodically we run down some of the newer and more innovative advances that make gathering, storing, and using data easier, as well as studies that monitor how you use technology.
For physicians that find hand held computers a boon to their productivity, ePocrates Inc., a San Carlos, CA-based company that provides drug information software to 400,000 users, is linking up with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to deliver safety alerts and information to users.
More than 165,000 physicians use ePocrates, which provides users with information on some 2,400 drugs, their uses, adverse interactions, side effects, and dosage requirements. The company also offers an antimicrobial reference guide and the new DocAlert messaging system which the ISMP and the FDA programs make use of.
Last March, explains Lydia Green, RPh, director of marketing for ePocrates, while attending a conference, she started a conversation with FDA staff who were manning an exhibit booth. "We thought it would be great to send out alerts over our system."
After getting user feedback on what kind of information users might want to see, the program was born. But, says the head of the DocAlert program Laura Kaufman, physicians told her they wanted more content. At the same time, the ISMP had written about ePocrates and its products. "They have a newsletter that includes information on sound alike and look alike drugs, as well other features about drug interactions or topical news, like bioterrorism alerts," says Kaufman.
And so the second partnership was born.
The program sends about two sentences to users and asks if they want more information on a particular topic. (To see sample screens, click here.) If they tap yes, when they next plug their hand held device into their PC, users will get an e-mail reply with more information, says Green.
Richard Fiedotin, MD, cofounder of ePocrates and Vice President of Business Development for the company, says they know that physicians are using this information and what kinds of data interests them. "When Baycol [a statin drug manufactured by Bayer] was withdrawn, a lot of doctors read that message. But few wanted more information on that. When we send messages about anthrax or bioterrorism, though, they want more information."
That provides some insight into what direction the DocAlert program will go. "We get a lot of e-mail from users asking for new features," Fiedotin says. "And we survey them and interview users too."
Kaufman says that in the future, the network may provide information on herbal remedies and treatment guidelines, as well as more "Patient Oriented Evidence that Matters," or POEM messages, that provides information such as protocols for specific conditions. "We feel we can fill some of the gaps for physicians," Fiedotin explains. "Physicians don’t learn anything about herbals, for instance, but 70% of patients are using them. Docs need drug interaction information."
One of ePocrates’ users, Wayne B. Wheeler, MD, JD, FACEP, says he uses the DocAlert program daily. "I enjoy the medical questions as mental exercise and occasionally learn an entirely new fact," says Wheeler, medical director at Community Health and Wellness at Southern Ohio Medical Center, a 300-bed hospital in Portsmouth, OH.
Wheeler says one feature he’d like to see is emergency and occupational board style questions — three or four questions a day with answers and explanations sent with the next update. "Emergency medicine has gone to a continuous readiness for board certification and this would be a useful feature. Many ED physicians have and are transitioning into occupational medicine and need the board questions getting ready for the exam."
[For more information, contact:
• Lydia Green, RPh, Creative Director, Marketing; Richard Fiedotin, MD, Vice President of Business Development; and Laura Kaufman, Director, DocAlert, ePocrates Inc., 120 Industrial Blvd., San Carlos, CA 94070. Telephone: (650) 232-4803.
• Wayne B. Wheeler, MD, JD, FACEP, Southern Ohio Medical Center, 1507 27th St., Portsmouth, OH 45662. Telephone: (740) 356-6193.]
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