| A very valuable role for handheld computers in
medicine is the point-of-need access to drug and therapeutic
information. This is important for the physician, as well as for the
hospital pharmacist who may be required to provide information in a
setting without access to the usual texts and computer databases.
On-call pharmacists may be required to carry textbook, hospital
formularies and guidelines with them.
Mount Sinai Pharmacy database
In collaboration with the Pharmacy Department at Mount Sinai
hospital, we have developed a handheld computer support system for
the on-call pharmacist. Using the Palm
M500 unit with a 32 MB SD card, a number of commercially
available electronic pharmacopoeias have been installed. In
addition, local hospital formulary information has been converted to
a Palm format, using iSilo as the
handheld reader. Additonal drug information is available in a
spreadsheet format using J-file,
and customized medical calculators are include. BackupBuddy
VFS has been installed, to allow automated backup of all data to the
SD card. In the event of data loss from the Palm, all databases can
be re-installed form the SD card. An ongoing evaluation is in
progress, comparing the various pharmacopoeias in terms of content
and design.
Pharmacopoeias studied include:
- ePocrates
- Dr. Drug
- A2Z
- Lexi-drugs
- Micromedex (beta version)
Examples of screen images
ePocrates
Micromedex
Dr. Drug
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