The Pediatric PDA Blog

Paediatricians in the UK and other parts of the world has been waiting for this title since years ago. In fact it was a dream to have this concise and focused and patient centered best selling handbook with great deal of practical information and how tos to be pediatric specific.

Now that the book is published (see this page) we expect it to be released for the PDA soon enough.

It’s mother “Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine” is already available from Skyscape and Unbound Medicine (read this blog). We just wonder which of them is going to hurry up for the pediatric version!

The Pediatric PDA Blog has been told that Oxford University Press will not offer the publishing rights to neither Skyscape nor Unbound Medicine, this time they are working with a UK based PDA software developer, let’s wait and see.

Check back to this post as I will update it once we have information about any PDA version in the future.

The famous ARUP laboratories made their database lab reference available for us, The ARUPconsult.

The ARUPconsult “physicians lab and test guide” is available in all sorts of formats that we can think of; online access, a PDA version, as an AvantGo channel, and also as a mobile site, this is what we are talking about other developers should think seriously to do the same if they want their software to be used / purchased by as many as possible.

The fun part is that all these platforms are just free… yes free. You don’t need even to register with them!

OK now let’s start with the Pros of this laboratory guide

1)Free download 2)Multiple platforms as mentioned above 3)Easy and clean interface 4)Pages load quickly 5)Appropriately cross linked 6)Beautiful disease centered theme 7)Enough detailed clinical background for each test  8th)Standard reference from the national guideline clearinghouse 9)frequent updates “6 times a year”

But there are a number of Cons of the ARUPconsult program

1)Not pediatric specific and age specific references of normal values are missing 2)No panels like CBC, Urine, or others 3)Algorithms do not work (I tried the mobile site and the AvantGo channel) the list is there but they are dead links 4)No information about preparation and patient instructions 5)Several lab tests are missing such as C reactive protein and procalcitonin! 6)I tried to download the PDA version from their web page which mentions that we have to register BUT there is no registration link! If you find that link please comment on this post.

In a netshell, this piece of software is very useful at the bedside although there are many enhancements needed which is hopefully are going to be there as the reference is updated relatively frequently.

If you wish to read more detailed review check out these pda4peds web pages

ARUPconsult Mobile Site      Review    AAG     Video Demo

ARUPconsult AvantGo Channel       Review     AAG      Video Demo

Finally if you like this program please vote for it in our Best Pediatric Programs page and choose either the Free category or the Labs and Tests category to vote. NB- Voting for the best pediatric mobile site is not yet available.

One of the best advantages of a PDA is that it made the analysis of multiple drug interactions a reality on the bedside.

Before we used to check those complicated tables posted on the walls and we usually end up confused, now with few taps and in a matter of seconds we are able to generate results for up to 30 drugs.

A number of these tools are reviewed in pda4peds interactions category have a look.

But wait… it is not that glamorous as you think, these tools are actually drug to drug interactions and not drug to drug(s) so if you have drugs A, B, and C it will check interactions between A-B, A-C, B-C only it will not check interactions between A-B-C. This is evident when you see the results as it will mention only the interactions between individual drugs see the Clinical Xpert example below..

For every task and for every field we have many options out there for us, so what program should we choose! If you want to look up a drug information or when you want to find information about a lab test or when you want to armor your PDA with a differential diagnosis program you may find yourself struggling and confused on which option is the best.

Pda4peds launched the Best PDA Program in each category. These choices are not the sole opinion of Pda4peds authors but rather the result of voting of the visitors of the website (currently around 30 per day most of them pediatricians).

Each year we will announce the winners in each category and live day by day results of the polls can also be accessed.

Please make sure to vote for your favorite program in each category Just go The Best Pediatric PDA Program page and help us validate the results by having more poll votes.

If you have suggestions or comments to improve this voting process please comment on this post…

Recently I faced a problem when I was trying to sync my Windows Mobile 6 (HTC TyTN II, AKA AT&T Tilt and Kaiser) with the Epocrates server to install and update my Epocrates Essentials.

The sync starts normally as usual but it get stucks and hangs up at around the end of the process. Just about where the progress bar shown here in the picture the autoupdate dropps off and no more syncing!

When I go to Start>Programs>Epocrates Essentials The following message appears!

So in an attempt to resolve this problem I tried the following:

1) Uninstalled-Reinstalled : As per their instructions I uninstalled the software completely and forced a soft-reset then I downloaded the software again from my Epocrates account and re-installed it again , YET THE PROBLEM PERSISTED!

2) Disabled Anti-Virus and Firewall : One of Epocrates support agants advised me to do this, so I disabled my Windows Defender (Using Windows Xp) and my Norton Antivirus, and my Threatfire3, and my Spyware Terminator. Repeated step 1 and THAT DID NOT HELP EATHER!

3) Over The Air installation : I thought there might be a problem in their sync server, so repated step 1 then I tried to install the software via wireless connection by going to (http://get.epocrates.com) and installation went smoothly, this time no doubtful Xp problems, but again AUTOUPDATE DID NOT FINISH!

4) I thought there could be a software conflict and so what I did I completely wiped up my device (Hard reset) and repeated steps 1 and 2 and THAT DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM EITHER!

5) There is a program in HTC models called “Encryption” which encrypts files on memory card. When I unchecked this option I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO SYNC SMOOTHLY WITHOUT STALLING.

It seems that Epocarets are aware of this problem as they posted a specific support page, but they may be struggling with a solution. Recently they upgraded their software to manage memory automatically, in other words, if your main memory is not enough the software will move Rx, Dx, and Sx to your memory card and probably it is this upgrade that has caused Autoupdate to stall during syncing.

Many of my friends and colleagues said YES that’s it we will go for the iPhone as long as Epocrates now compatible with it!

However we are still anxiously waiting for Apple to allow third party developers to make (native) iPhone software (Read this guide) and what Epocrates has done is that they just made their online free drug database to be accessed easier on the iPhone (it was accessable before but with no touch technology). See Epocrates announcement.

What about Epocrates Sx, Dx, Lab and all the wondeful tools of Epocrates Essentials, NO they are not there for the iPhone at least for the moment.

Apple’s iPhone is a phenomenal device and a revolution in the field of smartphones and if they start to embrace the medical field we will be very lucky to have the iPhone serving us not only in our personal needs with its fabulous picturing, navigation, touch technology …etc but also for our daily clinical needs..

Dear iPhone…We are waiting eagerly…

The Mobile Merck Medicus is a complete repository of useful clinical tools and references all packed together in a single easy to use Unbound Medicine interface.

Check out Pda4peds

   Review page

   At a glance page

   Video demo page

   Each of the tools is also reviewed in pda4peds website in different categories.

What is amazing here is that all these services are just free! though only US health care professionals can subscribe to Merck Medicus where they can download the PDA application.

These tools are:

Medline Journals and Medline Search: Any Medline journal table of contents can be retrieved. I chose the journals seen in the image above which are the most recognized pediatric journals worldwide. Issue by issue and the articles are there … stop dreaming these are only abstracts and citations and no full text of course. Also we can search the Medline for any query and the search results will pop up in in your default browser when you synchronize the PDA with the desktop, something which is not so great if we remember that there are services that can get us the results on the PDA itself such as MD on Tap. Not only that but also you can specify a topic and you will get regular updates about it whenever anything posted on Medline (in the image example above I chose ITP).

News and Alerts: Also in the package is Reuters medical news which is a great service of breaking medical news and channels that can be specified through the online account of Merck Medicus. I chose here pediatrics, emergency medicine, infectious, and top stories. These are summaries of recent articles and research that is of real clinical significance. Moreover, there are RSS feeds from CDC, FDA, NIH, WHO and others (also choose your favorite channels through the online account of Merck Medicus). Something I cannot understand here that the news in the online Merck Medicus is quite different from this mobile version!

References: Currently there are three references included in the Mobile Merck Medicus. These are the Merck Manual professional edition, Harrison’s Answers on demand, and the fourth edition of the Pocket Guide of Diagnostic Tests. Great resources and very useful even for the pediatrician and adequately cross linked between each other in a lovely Unbound Medicine PDA interface. Quite suprisingly Unbound Medicine offers the Merck Manual for mobile devices for $50!! Please don’t buy that because it is available here in Mobile Merck Medicus for free.

That will conclude into one of the most complete PDA resources available. It is just missing a descent drug reference (although there are drug monographs in Harrison’s) and a good clinical calculator and hopefully they will add them in the future.

The whole application is also available as a mobile website where we can launch it via wireless connection but unfortunately it is not as rich as the real Merck Medicus online reference. Merck Medicus also provides TheraDoc for free which a PDA tool that calculates the best antibiotic choice for a given patient but it is not pediatric specific.

Do you like Mobile Merck Medicus! Vote for it in the Best Pediatric Multifunctional Program Poll..