Archive for the ‘iPhone’ Category

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New Updated Epocrates Essentials on iPhone

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

Epocrates launched the latest version [2.51] yesterday. It delivers significant improvements over the previous versions but most noticable is the new disease images which we have been waiting for quite long time.

The images added are not just a bunch of nice images to say that the app has images, no, there are hundreds of them and many many dx entries are supplemented with [sometimes more than one] images which are crisp clear and highly relevant.

Sadly, however, these images are not actually hosted on the native app and requires 3G or Wifi connection whenever requested. This is unfortunate because it means that we highly unlikely to see these images in closed CT scan and other hospital indoors still lacking adequate Wifi. Probably add these images to the Epocrates app would significantly increase the memory requirements that’s they avoided that.

Another great enhancement in the latest version is the landscape mode which is previously unsupported, here’s how it looks

Also now the search page include extra options such as disease by system and labs but still we want to see the major search box in all the sections and not only the main page.

Bottom line, Epocrates continues to demonstrate commitment in providing the latest updates with more and more features time after time consistantly.

However, we are still waiting for Sx and CME to arrive on the iPhone, version 3.0 perhaps!

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, News, iPhone | 2 Comments »

Skyscape and Unbound Medicine finally moved to paid iPhone apps

Friday, April 24th, 2009

As we expected and explained why in a previous post that the new Apple rules do not allow free apps which would then ask for subscriptions from outside the app store. So here’s the action started, two of the biggest medical developers started offering their apps paid right away from the app store.

For Unbound Medicine there was the Diagnosaurus and just few days ago the Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis, both apps have to be purchased right from the app store and not from Unbound Medicine’s website as it was the case for Nursing Central, Taber’s, and others.

Skyscape, similarly, has also started to market their subscription based titles as stand-alone apps on the app store. In fact, they have gone so furious that as of this moment there’s 29 new paid apps of their various titles on iTunes app store!

The good news is that the Pediatric Constellation is one of the earliest available :)

However, what’s really interesting, is that they still offer the various short and long term subscription options on the Skyscape website. Not only that, but also they still send users to their website when the Skyscape Universe tab is tapped on the Skyscape Medical Resources [they recently started to call it the Skyscape App]! It could be just a matter of time before they modify these options, but definitely before the official launch of iPhone 3.0 OS next Summer.

While for Unbound Medicine, right away they tell you go to iTunes to purchase the app and sorry there’s no free trial [see their web page] obviously they did not work out a “lite” free version of the new Handbook of nursing diagnosis.

So now let’s wait for epocrates and Pepid to join the new club and no more $$$ missing Apple pockets!

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Posted in All, News, iPhone | No Comments »

Which Davis Drug Guide for your iPhone?

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Davis’s Drug Guide is produced from Skyscape in the name of DrDrugs implying the phycisians version of it. The latest and most up to date copy is now available native on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

We’ve talked about Davis’s Drug Guide from Unbound Medicine in a previous post, this one from Skyscape is essentially the same and is even sold at the same price which is $50 for the standard edition.

Here’s how it looks;

So we are not going to repeat the merits of this popular Rx reference as we already mentioned that with the Unbound version, However, there are certain differences between the two that we need to examine:

First: the biggest missing feature from Unbound’s version is the built-in drug dose calculators which is fortunately available in the Skyscape’s version.
Second: Unbound’s version provides not only iPhone native version but also web and wireless access to www.drugguide.com which is a great advantage when you want to access it from your desktop or from another mobile device. While in the case of Skyscape you’d have to pay another $50 to get a desktop version.
Third: Skyscape’s SmartLink technology is a an advantage, as we can cross link the drugs to their respective drug interactions or disease information available on the other installed Skyscape titles on the same device. Interlinking is available within the single Unbound Medicine app not across the different apps.
Fourth: UI, navigation, indexing, and search are actually great on both of them and no major difference are noted.

So both have advantages and disadvantages and the choice is individualized. One particular advice here is that if you have many Skyscape titles then it’s wise to go for the Skyscape version for cross linking and if you think you will frequently access it via the desktop or other mobile devices then go for Unbound Medicine’s.

For detailed reviews of both check these links

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Posted in All, Drug Guides, iPhone | 6 Comments »

iPhone OS 3.0 and the Medical apps

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

Yesterday, Apple announced the new iPhone OS 3.0. This is a major upgrade to the software where we have many enhancements and new features.

This OS also comes with a new software developer kit [SDK] with more than a thousand new APIs available for the developers which can really transform and upscale the range of medical apps that we see now on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Examples include the new push notifications and the bluetooth pairing which previously hampered developers from developing real time billing and coding apps for example.

They also gave all what the customers have asked for such as copy and paste, MMS, global search, landscape keyboard other than Safari and several other great improvements.

But what attracted my attention in the new OS, is the new subscription enabled app store, a new feature that Scot Forstall [SVP of iPhone software] has clearly and loudly announced about the new SDK. The new In App Purchase is where developers can ask for payment for subscription based content from within the app and via iTunes store directly. Not only that, but also he stated specifically that a free app should stay a free app.

Here’s a quote from his talk: “...Free apps remain free. You won’t be asked ever to buy something that is inside that free application…”

This is of course going to force Apple’s 30% share into the revenue and they will no longer sit back and watch these developers making money from their iPhone customers without sharing.

This is a big change in the game. Epocrates, PEPID, Skyscape, and Unbound Medicine and others should no longer be able to sell us free apps and then ask us to fill it with purchased content from their websites.

We eluted to this in a previous post and many users have written complaints on iTunes reviews as they feel fooled by getting a free template which has to be stuffed for money.

This is a new SDK and a new feature and it might take sometime [the update will be available to consumers next summer] before we actually going to see changes into the business models of our beloved medical developers.

Ultimately, this is going to be rather good for us because by then we know exactly how much the app is going to cost before we download it. Also, the top free and paid lists will then truly reflect the trends and no longer be redundant and so we’ll know which is the best app to buy.

So let’s wait and see, there’s going to be a lot of action before the end of 2009..

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Posted in All, News, iPhone | 8 Comments »

Lexi Pediatric Suite on iPhone

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Lexi on iPhone

Most of the pediatricians that I know bounce away when they realize that the price for the Lexi Pediatric Suite is $179. They must be saying why should we buy such an expensive app while we can have Epocrates and Skyscape for free on the iPhone.

Here’s the answer;

The Lexi Pediatric Suite is unlike Epocrates, Skyscape, or Unbound Medicine, is offered straight away. You pay for the app and you get all the contents with regular updates. While in the case of other developers, they don’t provide full contents, they just tempt you with a free summarized app on which you have to download and purchase the content from their respective websites. So for example if you want to have a fully functional Epocrates Essentials you’d have to pay $150 yearly subscription and similarly with the other developers.

So that’s why Lexi priced in that range. But someone might argue that this a bad marketing idea, they should provide a free “lite” app to let users get an idea and convince them to pay for the full fledged app.

Here’s how the iPhone’s Lexi Pediatric Suite looks like;

The sweet suite sports the following:

To have all these resources packaged in a single app and an easy to use interface it makes sense to pay that $179.

The Lexi Pediatric Suite is a serious app and the details are scrutinized and synchronized with the Lexi database which is trusted nation wide.

Recently there were two important enhancements to this app:

First; they added the household products database and Lab database which were not there initially, this is probably in response to our request posted previously on the Pediatric PDA Blog!

Second; they added an update function so that we can update the database right within the app and no need to wait for app update from iTunes. This was one of the glitches that we recorded in the initial version.

You can open the purchase page of the app in iTunes when you click on the icon below

Lexi on iPhone

Thank you Lexi for such a great app.

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, iPhone | 2 Comments »

Skyscape, what to choose subscription or standard edition!

Friday, March 6th, 2009

After several shouts and customer dissatisfaction including us in a previous post, Skyscape finally changed their iPhone subscription policy and now offers a Standard copy of the books that they publish.

So now you we can choose to buy the product and keep it forever if we choose the standard option.

Previously there was only yearly subscription and after that year the app will vanish! This has provoked anger and extreme complaints from the users, if you read iTunes reviews of their iPhone app [the Skyscape Medical Resources] you will read descriptions like ripped off, scam, conspiracy, and some other very bad wording.

So in response, they added the Standard option just like what they offer for Palm and Windows Mobile.

In their explanation they say that the standard option will not allow for updates after the end of the 12 months, while if we choose the subscription option and we renew in time, we will always get the latest updates.

The digital content of Skyscape ebooks unlike what we used to have in a traditional book is constantly updated, so for example the A to Z Drug Facts will be updated from the publisher on a regular basis and that will be reflected on our Skyscape’s title. However, this is not absolutely true for all of the titles. There are titles that are still static and gets updated only with the availability of new editions.

In order to make a decision on what to buy a subscription or a standard edition, go to Skyscape website then choose the product then click on unique features tab and navigate down to the bottom of the page to see the updates policy of that particular product. Here’s a screenshot of one of the titles;

If the picture is not clear here’s what it says; “Update Policy: Edition-based. New editions are released when the content changes significantly; there is no standard schedule for new editions”.

So the advice here, is that buy a subscription for a clinical tool or an ebook that gets frequent updates but buy the standard edition if it is a static infrequently updated reference [as screenshot above] such as DSM IV, Lab notes, The Red Book, The Harriet Lane, and many many others.

They’ve also made more subscription options so we can choose to subscribe for a shorter periods of time for less money, which is also a good thing.

Thank you Skyscape for listening to us.

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Posted in All, News, iPhone | 16 Comments »

Diagnosaurus DDx on iPhone

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Here comes another app from Unbound Medicine, but this time they learned the game.. They are offering it at a low price so as to compete with the incredibly low prices that are seen in App store.

Diagnosaurus can be downloaded for only $0.99 from App store, Click here to download it.

Here’s how it looks;

Diagnosaurus is offered for free for the Palm and Windows Mobile [go to download page] [read Pda4peds review] and it should have been free here also, but anyway nobody can complain about 99 cents.

The previous models from Unbound Medicine was in much higher prices such as Davis Drug Guide and Nursing Central. Probably they are experimenting with Diagnosaurus to see which model is going to work better. So far, all the iTunes reviews are positive for Diagnosaurus after 24 hours of its launch. Some reviewers of Davis Drug Guide have reacted negatively to the need to purchase content after downloading the free application, despite the company’s clear explanation of the subscription process on the app description. With Diagnosaurus you pay 99 cents via the App Store and that’s it.

It replicates the Unbound Medicine platform that we have seen so far in all of their apps, to the extent that they offer a link to online user guide which is the same for all of the apps. The platform features wireless updates [which is not so helpful for a static ebook such as Diagnosaurus!], multiple indexes, smooth navigation, crisp pages and an enjoyable user experience.

Diagnosaurus DDx is a simple listing of symptoms with their causes and related alternative DDx differential diagnoses, and it’s mainly composed of adult medicine material and no pediatric focus. For example, we don’t find febrile seizures, or infantile crying and the causes of GI hemorrhages are mainly in adult life.

However, it can be useful sometimes as it includes commonly encountered symptoms and presentations such as abdominal pain and electrolytes disturbances.

The app is Not a differential diagnosis analyzer and we cannot enter multiple symptoms to get the DDx list.

Our message to Unbound Medicine, is that “We love the price“.

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Posted in All, Differential Diagnosis, iPhone | No Comments »

Diagnosaurus DDx on iPhone

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Here comes another app from Unbound Medicine, but this time they learned the game.. They are offering it at a low price so as to compete with the incredibly low prices that are seen in App store.

Diagnosaurus can be downloaded for only $0.99 from App store, Click here to download it.

Here’s how it looks;

Diagnosaurus is offered for free for the Palm and Windows Mobile [go to download page] [read Pda4peds review] and it should have been free here also, but anyway nobody can complain about 99 cents.

The previous models from Unbound Medicine was in much higher prices such as Davis Drug Guide and Nursing Central. Probably they are experimenting with Diagnosaurus to see which model is going to work better. So far, all the iTunes reviews are positive for Diagnosaurus after 24 hours of its launch. Some reviewers of Davis Drug Guide have reacted negatively to the need to purchase content after downloading the free application, despite the company’s clear explanation of the subscription process on the app description. With Diagnosaurus you pay 99 cents via the App Store and that’s it.

It replicates the Unbound Medicine platform that we have seen so far in all of their apps, to the extent that they offer a link to online user guide which is the same for all of the apps. The platform features wireless updates [which is not so helpful for a static ebook such as Diagnosaurus!], multiple indexes, smooth navigation, crisp pages and an enjoyable user experience.

Diagnosaurus DDx is a simple listing of symptoms with their causes and related alternative DDx differential diagnoses, and it’s mainly composed of adult medicine material and no pediatric focus. For example, we don’t find febrile seizures, or infantile crying and the causes of GI hemorrhages are mainly in adult life.

However, it can be useful sometimes as it includes commonly encountered symptoms and presentations such as abdominal pain and electrolytes disturbances.

The app is Not a differential diagnosis analyzer and we cannot enter multiple symptoms to get the DDx list.

Our message to Unbound Medicine, is that “We love the price“.

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Posted in All, Differential Diagnosis, iPhone | No Comments »

Unbound Medicine’s Davis Drug Guide

Friday, February 13th, 2009

The FA Davis Drug guide has been one of the most popular drug guides on the PDA. Recently it has been released from Unbound Medicine as a complete solution.

Here’s how the native iPhone app looks;

As with other Unbound Medicine’s new titles you can access the application online by visiting www.drugguide.com on the desktop browser or on your iPhone’s Safari or any device with Internet connection. The web version of the resource also delivers extra resources such as recent FDA alerts. The complete solution can purchased from Unbound Medicine for $50 yearly subscription.

There’s a special nursing version of this pharmacologic reference the Davis Drug Guide for nurses which is also available from Unbound Medicine and is packaged in Nursing Central.

It is interesting how FA Davis gave copyright permissions to four PDA software developers to market this title. Is is available from Medical Wizards, Skyscape, and USBMIS. But their partnership with Unbound Medicine seems to be flourishing as they are now sending visitors to the new Drugguide website developed by Unbound Medicine.

The availability on the iPhone is not exclusive either, as Skyscape has made it available a while ago in what they call it DrDrugs.

There are detailed reviews of this application on Pda4peds check these links:

Here’s the Handango purchase page if you are interested.

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Posted in All, Drug Guides, iPhone | 2 Comments »

Unbound Medicine ‘Central’ Packages coming to the iPhone

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Unbound Medicine has recently released their first ever ‘bundle-package’ app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, The Nursing Central.

Have a look here, you can click on the full screen button for better view:

You can see that there are so many features and resources packaged in one outstanding iPhone App. This is the first ‘Central’ packages to be released in App Store.

One of the most important features noticed is the wireless update where tapping on the right upper reciprocal update arrows takes us into the most recent database update of the app. These updates are not a joke, they are real and for example they just recently updated Tabers into their latest 21st edition as it was showing before the previous 20th edition and also just recently they added the Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis for institutional subscribers and as an optional add-on to individual subscribers.

The stuffing of this app is astonishing as you can get Davis Drug guide, Medline journals, Davis lab and dxstic tests, Diseases and Disorders, Tabers, and the handbook all for only one subscription price of $160 per year. The added prices of these components goes well above $200 if they are purchased separately.

The Nursing Central just like all other Unbound titles is available as a website. Just visit http://nursing.unboundmedicine.com on your desktop or mobile. The website version has an extra box of recent PDA medical news and it still includes the previous 20th edition of Tabers.

Another high level of functionality is the cross linking button where you can find related entries to your keyword in the other portions of the package. For example as shown above in the video, when reading about Acromagaly in Diseases and Disorders you can cross linked with related info found in the Davis drug guide and lab references, this undoubtedly useful at the beside and integrates the content into a single completer all-in-one application.

This is a great gift from Unbound Medicine and we can’t wait to see Pediatrics Central on our iPhone and iPod Touch devices!

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Posted in All, All-in-one Applications, News, iPhone | No Comments »

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