Epocrates for PDA

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exmissionary

Any opinions on Epocrates? It seems that nothing else gets close. I almost wish I could try it out for a month or so. What does anyone else use?

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I'm a Medicine intern and everyone uses Epocrates. It's free so why bother looking for anything else?
 
Are you premed? If so, what exactly would you use epocrates for?
 
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This thread reminds me of the premed who wanted to sleep like a resident "just because they can". OP, I think you might be in the wrong sub-forum...
 
Ha. I read this and thought it said "EPO crates," and I was thinking...

"Wow. You and ******** Ricco... frickin' dopers and your crates of EPO..."
 
Ha. I read this and thought it said "EPO crates," and I was thinking...

"Wow. You and ******** Ricco... frickin' dopers and your crates of EPO..."

Well, I was thinking, "Epocrates..hmm, isn't that a Greek philosopher?" So I don't think you should be to embarrassed.
 
Why would I want to use it? When doing shadowing at the hospital I would like to be able to look information up in a quick and easy manner. Most of the time the docs are so busy that they don't explain much.
 
Why not just carry around a pocket pharmacopoeia? Sure, it doesn't show what the drug looks like, but who cares?
 
I like carrying an index card and writing down things I want to look up later at home.
 
Why would I want to use it? When doing shadowing at the hospital I would like to be able to look information up in a quick and easy manner. Most of the time the docs are so busy that they don't explain much.

You'll look like a major geek playing with a PDA while shadowing. Just use your eyes and ears and learn. Your goal isn't to know the meds or the diseases or to learn medicine. There is time for that later. Your goal is to watch the doctors and what they do, their interaction with the patients, etc. You are trying to decide if this is what you want to with your life.

But as folks have mentioned, the drug database on epocrates is free to download. In terms of the other stuff (diagnoses) available on epocrates, when you get to med school, your school usually will get you a free subscription to use -- I wouldn't pay the subscription price on your own for the couple of times you might actually use it. Just take notes and jump on emedicine on the net when you get home, and look up whatever you feel important.
 
I don't have the luxary of playing with a PDA at work, but whenever I have a patient who has an interesting disease or something I've never heard of, I jot it down in the little notebook I carry around and then look it up at home. I've learned about some cool and kind of rare diseases that way. Same thing for patients who take kind of obscure drugs. It's just so much easier to wait until you get home and looks it up on the internet. Plus, you might miss something really interesting/important if you're fumbling with your PDA while shadowing.
 
I use it all the time when I am working as an EMT, and I use it all the time when I am not. If you are interested in it, get it, it's free. There is certainly no harm in having it as a resource. It's great just to even look up doses for friends when they have questions about what they can take. Do whatever it takes to be/stay interested in medicine, and if you think this would be cool to have, go for it.
 
just got this app and it rules. yes i'm pre-med but i attend a lot of meetings and it helps if i have a quick, easy source to look up a mentioned drug, for example.

actually, do they show the mechanism by which the drug works??
 
just got this app and it rules. yes i'm pre-med but i attend a lot of meetings and it helps if i have a quick, easy source to look up a mentioned drug, for example.

actually, do they show the mechanism by which the drug works??

There is a drop down menu that has mechanism of action, not sure how much a premed would understand if you haven't taken some pharm classes.
 
you'll look like a major geek playing with a pda while shadowing. Just use your eyes and ears and learn. Your goal isn't to know the meds or the diseases or to learn medicine. There is time for that later. Your goal is to watch the doctors and what they do, their interaction with the patients, etc. You are trying to decide if this is what you want to with your life.

But as folks have mentioned, the drug database on epocrates is free to download. In terms of the other stuff (diagnoses) available on epocrates, when you get to med school, your school usually will get you a free subscription to use -- i wouldn't pay the subscription price on your own for the couple of times you might actually use it. Just take notes and jump on emedicine on the net when you get home, and look up whatever you feel important.

+1
 
You won't look as nerdy as you might feel using epocrates in a clinical setting. Everyone will know what you're doing, and no clinician would blink an eye. When students shadow me, I will let them use my epocrates to look up the med regimens before we go into see the patient, and it gives springboards for questions. We can talk about things like, "this patient is on Zyprexa 10mg twice a day. As you can see on epocrates, that much Zyprexa costs around 800 bucks a month. This guy has been in the hospital for two months and lost his benefits. What are some problems you might see in him continuing on this regimen" or whatever....whatever interests the students. There are many other ways to use epocrates as a teaching tool, even if you don't have the pharm background yet. Also, it's a good habit to get into -- not to be afraid to look things up.
 
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