The new 2008-2009 edition of the famous little yellow pocket book is out for the PDA and iPhone from Skyscape. Written by the chief editor of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal and in collaboration with the AAP’s Red Book Committee this reference is certainly an authority when it comes to antibiotics in clinical and community based pediatrics.
See this iPhone video review:
See this Windows Mobile video review:
Most of the contents are presented in table format and unfortunately the Skyscape interface [as well as most other developers] does not really fit those tables into the small PDA screen and so we’d have to scroll side to side to see the whole table which makes navigation rather unpleasant. In addition, the lack of landscape mode of Skyscape titles [as of the time of writing this post] further compounds this issue.
It has everything related to infectious disease pharmacotherapy with drug dosages even in detailed circumstances such as the neonatal patient. For each clinical syndrome there is a list of recommended antibiotics sometimes down to the third line of choice. However, the reverse is not true, we don’t get a list of indications against each antimicrobial. This is something we wish to see in future versions.
References and grading of evidence are not so extensively quoted against each recommendation in the Nelson Pocket Book and this will be accounted for in the future editions as mentioned in the newly published website www.nelsonspocketbook.com.
Some Useful Links
- Purchase and download directly from Skyscape website [$25].
- Purchase the original print edition from Amazon [$25].
- Have your say in the Best Antibiotic App Poll.
